


The pet shop worker and the murderer

by Clarisse (transnymphtaire)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Creature Harry Potter, Dumbledore Bashing, Greater Good™, Kidnapping, M/M, Minor Violence, On Hiatus, Potion Invention, Tom is born in 1971, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-05-20 04:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5992255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transnymphtaire/pseuds/Clarisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom Riddle never became Voldemort, but he's still a murderer, and he still leaves the Dark Mark behind.<br/>Harry Potter is a normal teen, with famous parents, and a job in the Magical Menagerie. Everything is fine.</p><p>Then Tom comes and destroy everything. At least, according to Harry.<br/>In reality, Tom might have made things better for him. At least, in the long run.</p><p>Cross-posted to ff.net and wattpad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Every sickness needs a cure

Harry James Potter was an ordinary 19 year old, and perfectly content with it, thank you very much. His father was the famous James Potter, chaser for Puddlemere United, and his mother was Lily Potter née Evans, famous Healer at St. Mungo's, but Harry himself was proud to be ordinary. He had graduated Hogwarts a couple of years ago with decent grades in most subjects, and taken a job in the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. He had never wanted to live up to the expectations from his teachers, or friends, or even parents. They had expected too much, for him to become famous as well, following perhaps his parents' footsteps or becoming an Auror. Harry was quite happy working in the pet shop. At least, he had been so until now.

"My shadow viper is sick. Do you have any potions?"

Harry looked up from the Quidditch catalogue he had been looking through in a hopeless attempt to find his father a meaningless birthday gift. He gave the stranger on the other side of the counter a quick once-over. Then he blinked as he recognized the stranger's face and tried to place it. It couldn't be… could it? It would be just his luck that it was.

"Did you hear me?" the stranger asked, with a raised eyebrow and obvious impatience. He looked dangerous and Harry could feel it from the strangers aura. It was like slow waves washing over him, telling him to stay away.

"Loud and clear." Harry answered with a forced cheery smile as he straightened up from his position leaning over the counter. He slid the Quidditch catalogue to the side.

"You need to bring your viper here for a check-over, or tell me which sickness it is, otherwise I can't get the correct potion for you."

"I'll be back." the stranger promised. It sounded like a threat.

Harry slumped against the counter as soon as the door had closed. He had just survived an encounter with _Tom Riddle_ , _Undesirable no. 1_ , the most wanted wizard in England. Great, just fantastic, exactly how he had wanted his day to go. Not to mention that the murderer looked _smoking hot_. Well, at least nothing else would be able to surprise him today.

* * *

It took two days before Riddle showed up again, this time with a giant snake around his shoulders. Harry froze from where he was putting new rat treats on the shelf. Thankfully - but he doubted that it was really a coincidence - the shop was empty from other customers.

"That can't possibly be a shadow viper!" he exclaimed, and almost dropped the bag of treats he was holding as he tried to hurriedly put it on the shelf.

"She is. Magic and good care can do a lot." Riddle answered nonchalantly. Harry still stared at the giant snake as he successfully put away the bag with rat treats.

"If you'll follow me into the backroom then, sir…" Harry said, and lead the way to the veterinarian room he had put together himself. He had studied Muggle pet care to put it together, since magic could be lacking. Riddle snorted when he saw the obviously Muggle tools, but didn't comment.

"What's her name then?" Harry asked, as he gestured that Riddle could place the snake on a table in the middle of the room.

"Nagini." Riddle answered, his tone surprisingly fond. Harry shot him a glance. Mass murderer, fond of his pet snake. If he didn't see it for himself, he would never believe it.

" _Hello Nagini. If you would be so kind to let me take some venom from you to test, I would appreciate it."_ Harry said as he started to collect his tools, making sure they were sterilized.

" _Another speaker!"_ Nagini answered with surprise. Harry stopped. _Nagini_ answered?

" _Excuse me?"_ he asked, and looked questioningly at first the snake, then at Riddle. The latter was staring at him with something new in his eyes. Harry didn't like it one bit.

"You speak parseltongue." Riddle stated, his tone disbelieving yet fascinated. Harry shook his head.

"Impossible. There's no parselmouths in the Potter line, and my mother is muggleborn." Harry protested.

" _So you can't understand me?_ " Riddle asked with a raised eyebrow. It almost sounded teasing. Harry frowned at him.

" _I understand you perfectly._ " he answered. Riddle smiled at him. It wasn't a warm smile but it still made Harry feel as if his insides were melting. _Fuck_. Murderers really had no right to look so good.

"Then you're a parselmouth. How… _interesting_." Riddle purred the last word. It made for quite the odd picture. Harry really wished he could speak to someone about this, but nobody he could think of would believe him. Except perhaps his barmy, old headmaster - but he prefered to keep his distance from Dumbledore.

"If you say so…" Harry mumbled, and decided that Nagini deserved his attention better. The snake opened her mouth for him so that he could get some venom. Harry thanked her, and turned to another table with different potions in vials and some bottles with Muggle chemicals. He divided the venom in different bowls and added different things to each bowl to see the reactions. He could feel Riddle staring at him the whole time.

"You can go if you want." Harry offered. "This will take some time."

"I think I prefer to stay, if you don't mind." Riddle answered, his voice sickeningly sweet. Harry grimaced to himself. He didn't feel much like becoming Riddle's plaything for an ability he shouldn't have, but he had a growing feeling that it was likely to happen.

"I don't." Harry lied. He proceeded to zone out as he focused on the potions, only slightly aware of the hissed conversation behind his back.

* * *

 It took a hour before all the chemical reactions were completed and he had a result. Or rather, an extreme lack of a result. Harry frowned at the bowls. The frown stayed on his face as he turned to Riddle and Nagini.

"There's nothing wrong with the venom. I need to check her blood and saliva for results."

"Is it going to take time?" Riddle asked.

"Two hours, at least, if I don't get any results." Harry answered, his frown deepening at the prospect of spending even more time with the murderer.

"I can't stay." Riddle said.

"Are you bringing her again tomorrow then?"

"No. _I_ can't stay, but _she_ can." Riddle answered with a smug smile. "I'll come back for her in a day or two."

Harry didn't get a chance to protest as the wizard left. He looked at the empty space where Riddle had just been, and then to Nagini.

" _You are actually sick, right?_ " he couldn't help but ask. " _I feel like someone is playing a prank on me…_ "

" _I'm sick, hatchling._ " Nagini answered with the snake-equivalent of a snort.

* * *

Harry spent the rest of the day in the backroom with Nagini, only checking on the store a few times when the bell above the door signalled a customer. The few results he got didn't tell him enough, and he started to suspect that Nagini's sickness came from a curse. He was still thinking over the matter when his shift ended. After he had closed up the shop, he was not quite sure what to do with Nagini. He still lived with his parents in Potter Manor since he wanted to buy an apartment with his own saved up money, instead of the money in his trust vault, which left him with quite the dilemma. Should he leave Nagini - a giant, venomous snake - in the shop, or should he take her with him? If he left her, she could get worse without him knowing or eat some of the other animals. If he took her with him, he would have to explain it to his parents - assuming they were home at all. Perhaps it wasn't much of a dilemma in the end.

" _Nagini, I'm going to apparate you to my home, so that you can stay with me during the night. Do you need anything before we leave?_ " Harry asked.

" _Do your home have food and a fire, hatchling?_ " Nagini asked. Harry nodded in confirmation and Nagini curled herself around his waist and shoulders. He checked the shop one last time before disapparating.

* * *

They apparated into Potter Manor's entrance hall.

"Welcome home, Master Harry." Tipsy greeted him. Harry smiled at the house-elf.

"Thanks, Tipsy. Are my parents home?"

"Master James is having dinner." Tipsy answered. "Will Master Harry also be having dinner now?"

Harry glance at Nagini before turning back to Tipsy.

"In a moment, Tipsy."

"Tipsy will set the table for Master Harry." the house-elf said and disappeared.

Harry started walking towards his own room. He ignored the few portraits he walked past that tried to ask him why he had a giant snake. Nagini hissed comments about everything she saw as well, but Harry ignored her too. After a moment, they were on the second floor and he opened the door to his bedroom.

"Hello, Hedwig." Harry greeted the snowy owl that was sitting on a post by the window. She hooted back. Harry went over to the fire place. With a flick of his wand, a warm fire was burning. Nagini crawled down from him and curled lazily over an armchair.

" _I'll ask Tipsy to bring you food. Don't touch Hedwig._ " Harry said. Nagini made a humming sound in response. "Hedwig, play nice with Nagini." Hedwig hooted at him as if to say that she always played nice.

Harry changed into a clean shirt before he left his bedroom for the dining room. He didn't exactly look forward to seeing his father. James was great, yeah, and kind and loving, but he was also away a lot and obviously disappointed in how different from him Harry was. Harry hadn't been interested in pranks, he had found professor Snape to be a good teacher and decent person, he had only been on the quidditch team in his fourth year and as a seeker instead of a chaser, and he had befriended people from all houses, most notably Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini from Slytherin. It was quite clear that he wasn't the son that James had wanted. His mother would be proud of him no matter what he did with his life - with perhaps the exception of helping the Undesirable no. 1 without contacting the Ministry.

Harry frowned at the thought. Why hadn't he contacted the Ministry? He even had Riddle's snake now, the Aurors and Hit Wizards could use her to trick Riddle. No, that would be wrong… Nagini was just an innocent snake. An extremely venomous snake that likely had assisted some of Riddle's murders, but an innocent snake nonetheless. Harry couldn't endanger an animal, even if it belonged to a murderer. It would go against his morals.

He didn't get to ponder on it much more as he entered the dining room. James sat at the head of the table, and to his great annoyance Tipsy had decided to seat him to James' right. Harry sat down next to his father without a word.

"Harry." James acknowledged. "How was work?"

"Father." Harry nodded back. "It was slow, not many customers during the school year."

"You can always find another job." James reminded him. "I know that Moody is always on the look-out for new Aurors. I can ask him to take you under his wings, as he did with Sirius' cousin - Tonks, if you remember."

"There's no need, father." Harry responded, a tad colder than was usual for him. He had no patience left after Riddle, combined with not making any progress with Nagini. "I'm very happy at my current workplace."

"If you ever change your mind-" James started but Harry interrupted him.

"If I ever change my mind, I will let you know."

The rest of the dinner passed in silence. James tried to start up a conversation a few times, but a look from Harry quieted him down. Harry gave a quiet goodnight as he excused himself for the rest of the evening and went back to his room.

Nagini was still draped over the armchair when Harry entered the room. He shot her an amused glance. For a sick snake, she seemed quite content.

" _Don't make yourself too much at home, I'm sure you'll be picked up tomorrow._ " Harry said as he sat down on his bed. Nagini raised her head to look at him.

" _Have you found out why I'm ill then?_ " she asked. Harry shook his head slightly.

" _Not yet. I'm questioning if perhaps you need a curse-breaker._ "

" _I hope you can break curses then._ " Nagini answered. " _My master is risking much with you already._ "

" _Why is he doing that anyway? How does he know that I'm not going to call the Ministry on him?_ "

" _Strong compulsions._ " Nagini answered, though she sounded confused to what she was speaking about. Harry stared at her. When-? It didn't matter. It explained why he didn't feel inclined to mention the visit to anyone.

" _I really shouldn't be surprised… Riddle would be a paranoid fucker, wouldn't he?_ "

" _What are you talking about, hatchling?_ " Harry shook his head slightly.

" _Never mind, Nagini. I was just thinking out loud._ " he answered. " _How's life with Riddle then?_ "

" _He's a very good master, takes care of all my needs._ " Nagini looked at him, and he could swear that she was smirking. " _He would take great care of his mate's needs as well._ "

" _Mate- what- Nagini!_ " Harry spluttered. What had Riddle and Nagini been talking about when he had studied chemical reactions? They were strangers! Tom Riddle was as wanted mass murderer! Also at least 7 years older than him, since he couldn't remember Tom from Hogwarts - though it was hard to guess with how young- okay, no, bad Harry.

" _Okay, you know what, conversation over._ " Harry decided. He called Tipsy to fetch Nagini a rabbit before he buried himself in a book. They didn't speak again, but he could feel Nagini's gaze on him occasionally.

* * *

Harry woke up to a heavy weight on his stomach. He looked with blurry vision at the dark green lump that rested on him as he reached for his glasses. When his vision cleared up, he identified the lump as Nagini.

" _Did the fire burn out? I should have asked Tipsy to keep it burning for you…_ "

" _Your warmth was fine, hatchling._ " Nagini answered, and gracefully wormed her way down on the floor.

Harry got dressed, and tried to ignore how Nagini kept looking at him as he did. He pointedly kept his back to her anyway.

" _Ready to go_?" he asked, after a long fight against his hair with a hairbrush and a quick brushing of his teeth.

" _What about breakfast?_ " Nagini asked as she curled herself around Harry's upper body.

" _I'll feed you something in the shop._ " Harry answered and left his room to go downstairs, so that they could apparate from the entrance hall.

" _Your own breakfast, hatchling_?" Nagini questioned.

" _I don't eat breakfast._ " Harry responded as he walked down the stairs. Nagini snorted, but didn't comment. Harry apparated them as soon as he had stepped into the entrance hall.

* * *

The first few hours of his work day went pretty good. Nagini insisted on being around his shoulders, but Harry didn't mind the weight much. There had been a witch buying food for her kneazle and a family looking for a new toad, but otherwise not much of interest had happened. Of course Tom had to come and ruin it.

"Hello, _darling_." Tom greeted him. Harry eyed him suspiciously, and kept checking the inventory file for products they needed to order.

"I found out some interesting things about you yesterday." Tom continued, his voice sweet and close to a purr. Harry glanced up once, but otherwise didn't give any sign of caring.

"Harry James Potter, born June 31st, in 1980 to James Potter and Lily Potter née Evans - both famous in their respective professions. Graduated from Hogwarts in 1998 with 10 Outstandings on your N.E.W.T.s. Beat the record for highest score in both Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures. Was offered to start Auror training but declined. Was prefect since fifth year, and then Head Boy in seventh. Played seeker for fourth year only, and caught the snitch every match without fail. Friendly with students from all Houses and most of the teachers, but has kept a great distance from the Headmaster. Has never shown any romantic interest in another student. Doesn't keep regular contact with any of your former schoolmates, but would still show up in a heartbeat if they needed it." Tom grinned at him as he suspected a predator would.

"How?" Harry asked. He felt greatly unnerved that it had been so easy for Tom to look up most information about his life - assuming that Tom had told him everything. For all he knew there could be more information that Tom had decided to not share that he knew.

"Oh, just had a nice little chat with Draco Malfoy. He knew a great deal about you."

Harry muttered under his breath. Draco had pretty much stalked him during his last years at Hogwarts, so of course the blond would know a lot about him. They weren't exactly friends, but he didn't dislike Draco either. He was just annoyed that the blond had offered up so much about him to Tom of all people. Wait-

"How do you know Draco of all people?" Harry asked, forgetting to ignore Tom for a moment.

"I'm friends with his father."

Harry wisely chose to not ask _you actually have friends?_ but it was on the tip of his tongue. It just seemed so far away that the mass murderer Tom Riddle would be friends with someone.

"So… Harry, how come you're working here when you could be an Auror?" Tom asked pleasantly. Harry went right back to ignoring him, as he chose to focus on actually doing some work. He barely noticed when Nagini left his shoulders to curl herself around Tom instead. What he did notice was parts of their hissed conversation.

" _...hatchling has good build for grand-hatchlings…_ "

" _Oh? You've seen him naked?_ "

" _I would love to see him without a shirt on myself._ "

" _Hurry up and mate and give me grand-hatchlings._ "

Harry muttered under his breath about perverted snakes and perverted murderers and the bloody annoying but oh so good looking prat that was Tom Riddle as he ignored how warm his cheeks felt. By the smug smile Tom gave him he could tell that his blush was obvious. He knew that Tom was mostly humoring Nagini, but those eyes scrutinizing his body as he worked was definitely telling him that there was some truth in Tom's bloody comments.

* * *

The rest of his day passed pretty much in the same way. Harry took Nagini into the backroom when he was done with his other tasks, and Tom followed. They didn't talk - or rather, Harry didn't talk but Tom and Nagini conversed the whole time. Like yesterday, Harry performed some tests but this time with some of Nagini's scales. Unlike yesterday, he actually got clear results this time.

"I figured out why she's sick!" Harry said hurriedly in excitement as he scribbled down notes and double-checked his results. "It was so hard to find because it's not something physical, but it's her soul! It's trying to break down for some reason - I don't understand why…" Harry broke off as he checked his notes over. "There's really no clear reason for it…" he mumbled, not noticing the sigh of relief Tom gave at this revelation.

Harry turned around from his notes so quickly that his robe swished dramatically behind him.

"I think I can make a potion to mend her soul and stop it from breaking down! It's going to take a while, but I think I know most of the ingredients that I should use… oh! Yes! That is going to work. And perhaps if… hmm…" He turned back to his notes to put down possible potion ingredients, the excitement he felt over creating a new potion quite obvious in the look on his face.

"How long do you think it's going to take?" Tom asked, his voice coming from a lot closer than expected. Harry jumped, as he realized that Tom had looked over his shoulder, putting their heads close together. He couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed, especially when he saw that Tom had caged him in against the table since Tom had one hand resting on both sides of him. In short, Tom was almost pressed against Harry's back.

"I- I don't know." Harry breathed out, stuttering over the first word. "Back up, will ya?" he then snapped, annoyed with himself for reacting to the closeness of Tom's body. Harry breathed out in relief as Tom complied, and leant against the table instead, still far too close for comfort but away enough to make Harry feel better.

"How much worse is Nagini going to get meanwhile?"

"I don't know." Harry answered again. "I have never seen anything like this before, it's not a sickness of the body or mind, but her soul! I don't have the instruments to measure a soul, who knows for how long it has been breaking down before the physical signs started… It's a whole new area of magic!" He slowly worked himself up to excitement again. "To study souls! Can you imagine? Oh, and if this potion works… I could do so much! It would take ages sure, and I would need to try my theories on living beings, but it could open up so much."

"Don't." Tom said in a harsh tone. Harry blinked and looked questioningly at him.

"Why not? You asked earlier why I'm working here when I could be an Auror, and now that I see a way to do more and contribute to society, you tell me not to. I don't see why you believe you have the right to tell me no, we're barely acquaintances."

"Ah, and here I thought we were becoming friends. You hurt me, my _dear_." Tom answered with fake pain.

"Answer the fucking question."

"Souls are a very dangerous business. It's better for you if you stay far away from it." Tom answered quietly. Harry gave him a long look.

"Okay. I wouldn't want to get famous anyway." Harry answered, and easily dismissed the thought of a new area of magic. Tom blinked at him.

"That's one thing I don't get. Why don't you want to be famous?"

"How would I ever know if people like me for _me_ or for my fame if I was famous?" Harry asked. "I'm much happier this way. It's enough that people try to use me because of my parents' fame, I can't imagine the hell it would be if I was famous on my own."

"Hell?" Tom repeated with a slightly confused expression. Harry just stared at him for a long moment.

"Why am I even discussing this with you? You're not interested in fame. You're _in_ famous, sure, but that's far from the same thing. A murderer doesn't do it for people to look up at them, to admire them."

"Ah, but _darling_ , being infamous is so much better. People cover in fear, grovel at my feet." Tom answered, with his predatory smile.

"They would do much the same if you were a politician." Harry responded with a shrug.

"Perhaps, but politics are slow. There's nothing slow about murder. Unless you spend time torturing of course…" Tom trailed off. They had not confronted the whole 'you're a mass murderer' thing before this, and Harry had no desire to dwell deeper into it.

"Are you going to take Nagini with you?" Harry asked, efficiently changing subject. A quick _tempus_ told him that he should start preparing to close the shop for the day, so it seemed like an appropriate time to ask.

"No, you might need to have her close when you work on the potion. I'm sure she's capable of protecting the both of you if needed." Tom answered nonchalantly. Harry looked at him, greatly offended.

"You know that I have the highest score in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry muttered. Tom looked at him, obviously amused.

"Ruffled your feathers, did I? Don't worry, _my dear_ , I'm sure you can take care of yourself too. I just trust Nagini more, since I have actually _seen_ what she can do." Tom said with a smirk. Harry huffed.

"Leave before I curse you."

"I'd love to see you try, _darling_." Tom answered, but left nonetheless. Harry breathed out in relief. Something about prolonged exposure to Tom shortened his fuse, making him much more likely to just _snap_ than he usually would.

" _Ready to go, Nagini_?" Harry asked after he had collected himself. Nagini didn't answer, but she curled herself around him which he took as a 'yes'. Harry made sure that he had all his notes about Nagini's soul-sickness and the potion he wanted to invent, and then made short work of closing down the shop. He disapparated after making sure all the animals were fed and the door was locked.

* * *

Like yesterday, Tipsy greeted them in the entrance hall.

"Are my parents home?" Harry asked as he usually did, not expecting much of an answer. He was used to being the only one at home.

"No, Master Harry, but Mistress Lily told Tipsy this morning that Mistress Lily would be back in time for dinner. Do Master Harry want to wait until Mistress Lily is back?" Tipsy asked. Harry blinked at her, and stayed still in a moment of shock and confusion. His mother would be home in time for dinner? He had barely seen her in over a week! Oh, how he had missed her…

"Tipsy, tell me when mother arrives. I'll have dinner with her. Thank you." Harry answered and started to ascend the stairs. He couldn't help but smile as he worked himself up into excitement over the thought of being able to hug his mother and breathe in her smell again. Lily was so warm and lively, and he loved her a lot, unlike the feelings he harbored towards James. He, of course, loved his father as well, but it was far from the same way.

Harry entered his room and lit a fire for Nagini. Instead of going over to his bed, Harry sat down on the floor in front of the fire. Nagini changed how she was positioned, but mostly remained curled around him. Harry stroke over her scales gently as he thought over possible ways to make the potion. He had invented potions before, but this would be much more complex, and he wouldn't be able to see any immediate results since it would be for a soul… How would he even try the potion in the first place to know if it would succeed? Harry frowned. He couldn't feed Nagini any potion that he wasn't sure would work - it would be dangerous, and Tom would surely hurt him if anything happened to Nagini. As Harry dwelled on this, he didn't notice that the door to his room opened.

"Harry, Tipsy told me that you wanted to have dinner together so I- Oh, who's this?" Lily asked from the doorway, and looked curiously at Nagini. Harry opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them in the first place.

"Mum!" he exclaimed, and gave her a happy smile. "This is Nagini, I'm taking care of her for a customer. She's sick, and they thought it wise that I have her close because I need to invent a new potion for her." Harry explained. Nagini flicked her tongue to smell Lily, before giving the snake-equivalent of a nod in greeting.

"Sick? And a potion, you say?" Lily hummed in thought. "Do you need any help, Harry? I know that you're very good at potions - even Severus has praised you on occasion - but I might have some Healing knowledge that you need. Although I'm not sure how much help it would be for a snake… I'm still offering." she said with a slight smile. Harry thought the offer over. He loved working on potions together with his mother, and perhaps she would have some insight in broken souls from her work at St. Mungo's… He didn't have a lot of knowledge about soul-sickness to begin with, and two heads were better than one.

"I'd love your help, mum. I might need it, I've never seen a sickness like this before."

"It's settled then! I can free some hours in the morning for you, but first, dinner." Lily said, and beamed at him. Harry smiled back, and carefully freed himself from Nagini. He made sure that she was comfortable, without talking to her in parseltongue since his mother was there, before he followed Lily to the dining room.

He explained Nagini's sickness over dinner, and what he had already thought of when it came to the potion. With his mother's ideas and comments, he started to get a better picture of what would be needed and how long it would take. Harry felt happier than he had in a long while.

* * *

" _Did you enjoy the rats that Tipsy gave you?_ " Harry asked Nagini, as he settled against the pillows. He had talked with his mother for a couple of hours, and now he just wanted to sleep.

" _They could have been fatter._ " Nagini answered, and made her way over to the bed. Harry assumed his body heat was better than the warmth from the fire, since he had offered to make sure it was kept going the whole night and she had declined.

" _I'll make sure that you get an extra fat rat for breakfast then._ " Harry answered, and buried deeper into his blankets.

" _Good._ " Nagini answered and settled herself on top of him. " _Have you thought more about becoming Master's mate?_ "

" _Go to sleep, Nagini._ "

Nagini snorted but didn't say anything more about it.

* * *

Harry apparated to the Magical Menagerie together with his mother the next morning. He opened up the shop with Nagini around his shoulders while Lily went into the backroom to organize their notes and prepare the ingredients that they had decided on. Harry hummed as he worked, in a good mood since he got to spend so much time with his mother.

His good mood continued after the shop was opened and he had joined his mother in the backroom. They worked close together as they discussed the pros and cons of different tools and different ways of ingredient preparing. They both referred to things that professor Snape had taught them, and Harry couldn't help but find slight amusement in it.

"Hello, _darling_ , did you miss m- Who's this?" Harry jumped at Tom's voice and turned around. He was about to answer when Lily turned around as well. He could see her facial expression twist from a pleasant smile to confusion then realization and lastly shock and fear, before a stunner hit her in the chest. The world came back in a rush, and Harry glared at Tom.

"You didn't have to stun my mother!"

"She was about to scream." Tom answered, and walked over to where Lily's body laid on the floor.

"A _silencio_ would have been enough." Harry protested, as he followed Tom's movements warily.

"She would have reacted with violence, and even if she didn't, you would have no plausible way to explain the situation to her. Now, be quiet while I change her memories."

"What are you going to change?" Harry asked, his tone quiet but worried.

"I'm going to change my greeting." Tom answered. Harry frowned at the vague response, but wisely stayed quiet. He watched as Tom carefully obliviated his mother. Tom turned to him after it was done, and then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Nagini is sick because of the horcrux.  
> No, Harry is not a horcrux.
> 
> Harry's parseltongue abilities are because... well, it's up for a vote actually.  
> 1st option: The Peverell line comes from the Slytherin line. Harry, as an descendant from Ignotus Peverell, is a parselmouth thanks to Lily's clean blood which strengthened the old magic.  
> 2nd option: Euphemia Potter, Harry's grandmother, comes from creature blood but had willingly bound her creature status to live as a human. James inherited the creature blood, but Dumbledore forcibly bound it before he could come into his inheritance. Then, Dumbledore also forcibly bound Harry's creature blood /but/ Harry's magic is working on undoing it - starting with giving him the parseltongue ability back.
> 
> For the second option, I'm torn between gorgon and enchidna. (I'm actually planning a gorgon!Harry fic in the future because I love the idea.)


	2. Get to know your kidnapper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's first day as kidnapped is really not as bad as one could expect.

Harry slowly came back to consciousness the way one only does because of a _rennervate_. It took him a moment to remember what had happened. When he did, he was filled with fury. Tom had stunned him! Harry sat up, ready to give the bastard some choice words about stunning other people, when he realized that he was on a bed. He blinked, and looked around in confusion. He saw Tom sitting in an armchair next to the bed, calmly observing him. Harry glared at him.

"Where am I?" he demanded.

"Why, _darling_ , in my bedroom, of course." Tom answered with an amused smile. Harry stared at him for a moment as the puzzle pieces clicked together.

"You kidnapped me!" Harry gaped as he stared at Tom. Then his expression changed back to fury and he lunged himself from the bed towards Tom, ready to strangle the bastard. Tom captured his wrists with one hand, and held him still by the waist with the other.

"It was necessary. _Calm down_. Your mother is unharmed. She'll think that I came to kidnap you, and stunned her to not have her interfere. She has likely woken up by now and noticed that you, Nagini and the potion notes are gone. I couldn't bring the ingredients, but I'll get new ones for you. I even left my mark above the store so that she'll be believed, since it isn't my usual style to kidnap store workers and leave behind witnesses. I'll bring you back when the potion is ready and Nagini is healthy again, don't worry."

" _You fucking bastard._ " Harry snarled, to get the fury out of his system. He could admit that it was a pretty good plan, but he didn't have to like it. "You didn't have to stun me for it!"

"So I should have let you know where I live, when I have Aurors and Hit Wizards after me? And here I thought you were clever. I must say, I'm disappointed-"

"Oh, do shut up, will you? If you had apparated us, I wouldn't know where we are either."

"Perhaps not, but it was more fun this way." Tom answered, his usual predatory smile in place. Harry settled for glaring more at him, and freeing himself from Tom's hands. There was no need for them to be pressed together. He took a step back, making sure there was at least 20 cm between them.

"Do you have a guest room or a sofa that I can use, or do I need to transfigure a bed?"

"Is there anything wrong with the bed that you woke up on?"

"It's _yours_."

"I'm an excellent bed-mate, _dear_. I don't snore, nor do I hog the covers or move around a lot."

"The problem is that you would be in it. I prefer to sleep alone, thank you."

Harry could swear that Tom had looked disappointed for a second, but the expression was gone before he could look deeper into it.

"You let Nagini sleep with you." Tom answered in a mock-hurt voice.

"I trust Nagini to not have any wandering hands." Harry shot back.

"I don't have a guest room, but there's a sofa. You can transfigure a bed if you want to."

Harry blinked. He hadn't thought about it before, but he hadn't fully expected to still have his wand. He checked his pocket. It was still there.

"There's anti-apparition wards, of course, as well as other wards to stop unwelcome visitors. Since all wards are tied to me, there's no risk that you'll leave even if you can use your magic." Tom explained. Harry guessed that his confusion had been written clear on his face.

"You pay for any potion ingredients I need, and for my services."

"I'll repay you greatly if you succeed." Tom promised. Harry got the inkling that Tom wasn't talking about money.

"Then we have a deal." Harry said reluctantly. Tom only grinned at him.

* * *

 After they had settled the deal, Tom showed Harry around what seemed like a completely normal apartment. Except for the bedroom, there was an open kitchen/living room area, a bathroom and a closet.

"Where am I supposed to set up a potions lab?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. Tom shrugged - actually shrugged. Somehow the gesture seemed to casual to look natural when Tom did it.

"I can probably do without a kitchen."

"...or we can expand the closet." Harry pointed out. "We do have magic."

Tom gave out a short laugh.  
"That does simplify things. Okay, we'll set up a potions lab in the closet for you. Just don't expect me to cook just because the kitchen is spared."

"I can cook just fine on my own, thank you." Harry answered. He may be somewhat spoiled by Tipsy, but there was few things better than doing things yourself. Cooking was one of the things he enjoyed, and it was closely related to potion-making anyway.

"Then you can cook dinner tonight." Tom decided. Harry spluttered.

"That's not-! I didn't-! Ugh, fine."

Tom just smiled at him.

* * *

 Harry sat down by the kitchen table with his notes while Tom sat up a potions lab in the expanded closet. Since Tom had been in a bit of a hurry while kidnapping him, his notes were in disarray. Harry bit his lip as he moved them around to get them in order, noting down what ingredients or tools he would need as he did. A metal cauldron could possibly interfere with the result… a glass cauldron could be a better choice, but it also added the risk of the potion turning out unstable… the best would be to have five different cauldrons with the same recipe at a time to see if it would make a difference, and from there figure out the amount of ingredients that would be needed… but how would he even know when the potion was done? Harry glanced at his ingredient list and preparation notes again. If it worked, the final result should be a pearly white, perhaps slightly translucent potion. If it didn't, he would likely end up with something orange with poisonous fumes. Maybe. It could also end up as a plum-coloured skin lotion smelling like apple cider. He honestly wasn't sure. There were at least five more results he could end up with, some resulting in explosions and others in good potions that he didn't actually intend to invent at this moment in time.

"Here's an idea for you, use an actual potion master to invent potions!" Harry called out in frustration. Tom looked out through the doorway to the almost-potions lab and former closet.

"I got an Outstanding on my potion N.E.W.T.s, perhaps I can help?" Tom offered.

"How would you prepare the Sopophorous beans for the Draught of Living Death?" Harry asked.

"They should be crushed since it releases the juices more efficiently than cutting them."

"I guess you would make a capable assistant." Harry decided, and waved at Tom to come over. He let an amused smile cover his lips when he realized that he had just made a feared mass murderer his potions assistant. Tom raised an eyebrow at him, as if he knew what Harry was thinking.

"What can I do for you?" Tom asked, as he looked over Harry's shoulder. Harry got the odd feeling that Tom deliberately pressed his chest against Harry's back whenever he could, since this was the second time it happened. Annoyingly enough, he couldn't get himself to say that he disliked it.

"Look over this, and tell me if the pomegranate juice would react negatively with the octopus powder, as well if it's possible to mix Nagini's blood with dragon blood, and if the Bicorn horn with the Erumpent horn, and while on that topic, if the Erumpent horn or the Erumpent tail is the best ingredient to choose, and also how many lacewing flies do you think is enough, because I'm thinking from anywhere between three to twenty-one, and also how would you prepare the dittany?" Harry said, without pausing to breathe. Tom gave him a long look, and then took the paper with ingredients from him. Harry started to write down possible brewing instructions as he waited for a response. Tom stopped leaning against him after a moment, and instead sat down next to him with his own self-inking quill and piece of parchment. They worked quietly for almost an hour before Tom seemed to have an answer.

"Okay, I think if you add the pomegranate juice at least two hours before the octopus powder, any negative reaction will be circumvented, it would be best to only have one kind of blood otherwise the properties could be mixed up, but it shouldn't do a difference when it comes to the Bicorn horn and Erumpent horn, but it also depends on when you add them, though you might want to use the Erumpent tail instead for the potion's consistency, I honestly don't know how many lacewing flies you might need, but I think it should be at least ten, and dittany essence is more efficient than the raw plant." Tom said, gesturing at his notes to strengthen his answers. Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"This potion will likely take at least a week to brew… after I know that I have a working potion, which can take _months_. How is Nagini doing?"

"Good, considering. My guess is that it takes years for a soul to be damaged, and that's why it's first now that she's showing symptoms."

"...are you telling me that you know why her soul started breaking down?"

"No." Tom answered, a bit too fast. Harry narrowed his eyes but decided to let it be.

"Do I really have to be kidnapped? My family is going to be so worried about me, and I'm not in any danger at all…" Harry sighed.

"No danger at all? Are you sure?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll kick your ass before you have time to blink if you try anything." Harry promised. Tom paled slightly for a moment.

"You can send them a letter if you want, so that they know that you're okay and that you'll be free when the potion is done." Tom offered, wanting to steer the subject away from him being hurt. Harry blinked at him in surprise.

"That's… thank you." Harry answered, and gave a weak, sincerely thankful smile. Tom swallowed and looked away.

"I have more to do in the potions lab." Tom excused himself, and left. Harry looked after him questioningly before going back to his notes. He didn't have time to care about a mass murderer behaving weirdly.

* * *

 "I'm gonna start on dinner!" Harry said, loud enough for Tom to hear. He hadn't seen Tom during the last few hours, but he had managed to get together two potential recipes with full instructions. It had seemed like a good time to stop to eat, especially since it was late enough to be dark out.

"Don't touch the eggs!" Tom called back. Harry shrugged off the odd comment and opened the cupboards, trying to find the one with a cooling charm. He grumbled to himself about missing the Muggle appliances his mother had insisted they have in Potter Manor. Fridges were just so… convenient! Not like a cooling charm which could stop working and spoil your food.

"Fucking finally." Harry muttered when he finally opened the right cupboard. He should try to organize Tom's kitchen if he really were gonna stay kidnapped for the next who-knows-how-long. He gave the eggs a cursory glance, and decided that they most likely weren't from a hen, and therefore Tom's comment had been a good warning. He could cook dinner without eggs anyway. Probably. The cupboard looked fairly scarce. He shouldn't be surprised, it was not like Tom could go shopping- wait. Tom could have used a house-elf or a glamour or gone into a Muggle world. There really was no excuse for the sorry state the cooled cupboard was in.

"Hey, why don't you have any food?" Harry asked, loud enough for Tom to hear. He took out some vegetables that looked fresh enough - a stasis charm only worked for so long on food after all. If he found some potatoes and onions he could make soup, but a piece of meat would be even better… Though it was more likely he would find a live rabbit or something, because surely Tom had more food on hand for Nagini than for himself.

"You don't have any salary as a murderer." Tom answered. He had come out from the potions lab, and was now watching as Harry went around the kitchen. "Unless they have anything worth stealing, of course, but it's rather hard to sell things off for a good prize…"

"...I'm just going to assume that you don't own this apartment." Harry answered, and shot Tom a reprimanding glare. Tom grinned at him.

"Lucius Malfoy bought it for me. You could say that it was a birthday gift."

"Could say?" Harry repeated. "That sounds suspicious. Was it even your birthday?"

" _Dear_ , if you want to know when my birthday is, all you have to do is ask."

Harry rolled his eyes at the non-answer, and started cutting the vegetables. He had found potatoes and onions while they talked.  
"If I ask, I'll feel obligated to remember it, or worse, buy you a gift."

Tom didn't answer, but instead stood next to him and started to wash the potatoes. They worked together in silence for a while. Harry hummed under his breath as he cut carrots, onions, leek and garlic. He could feel Tom glance at him, but he didn't give it much thought. It was much more entertaining to think about how he had gotten _Tom Riddle, Undesirable no. 1_ , to be both his potion assistant and kitchen assistant in one day. He hadn't even needed to ask this time. Tom's comment about not being expected to cook surely did much when Tom himself disregarded it less than 24 hours after making it.

"It's the 31st of December." Tom broke the silence. "1971." He then added as an afterthought.

"I didn't ask."

"It seemed fair, I know your birthday after all." Tom answered, with a shrug. Harry took a moment to just look at him.

"Okay. So you graduated Hogwarts the year I started?" he asked, trying to figure the age difference out. Tom made an agreeing hum in the back of his throat.

"So that makes you 27, going on 28." Harry continued.

"9 years older than you." Tom agreed.

"...how are you friends with Lucius Malfoy of all people?"

"Oh, that's nothing to worry your cute little head with." Tom dismissed him. Harry had a strong feeling that their friendship had a lot to do with murder and power, but wisely chose to say nothing about it.

"I'm not cute." he protested instead, which resulted in Tom pausing what he was doing to look at him. Harry resisted the urge to pout, as it really wouldn't help his case.

"No, cute would make you seem too innocent." Tom agreed. "You're enchanting."

"I can enchant you, if you want. A good hex or jinx would surely make you some good."

"It's adorable how you keep threatening me." Tom answered, with his signature predatory grin.

"Oh, I promise you, it's not any empty threats." Harry said, and pointed the knife tip in Tom's direction. "I might not even need my wand to fulfill them."

He could feel it when Tom's demeanor changed to serious.  
"There's a very good reason I'm the Undesirable no. 1, Harry, and you would do good to remember that."

Harry lowered the knife, honestly stunned that Tom had used his given name. They didn't say anything more as they finished preparing the soup. Tom left him to feed Nagini as soon as Harry started to make everything into a soup. He didn't see Tom again until after the soup was done and the table was set.

Tom sat down next to Harry and served himself soup, but didn't say anything. Harry couldn't help but feel tense by the closeness. He hadn't needed the reminder that Tom was a murderer, and that he was kidnapped. He liked it better when he could forget those facts and be himself. It really wasn't hard for him to just be himself, something he had marvelled at when he first realized. Really, it was already during their second meeting that he had started to feel more comfortable around Tom, and during their third he had opened himself up more than he had ever done to his friends. Not that it said much, Harry didn't enjoy talking about himself. That he spoke about his feelings on fame was enough for him.

"A sickle for your thoughts?" Tom asked, breaking the silence. Harry blinked at him.

"Not a whole galleon?"

"29 knuts are already too much, why would I offer 17 sickles to give you a galleon? Especially when you haven't shared your thoughts."

"I was deliberating the fact that I'm able to be myself around you, who I don't even know."

"Are you saying that you want to get to know me, _darling_?"

"Could you stop flirting for just a moment?" Harry asked. It wasn't going to get anywhere, no matter how handsome he thought Tom was.

"I could, but there's no fun in that." Tom answered.

"Oh, forget it." Harry sighed, and continued eating. The soup did taste pretty good, if he could say so himself.

"If I'm really making you uncomfortable, I'll stop. I don't actually know if you're into blokes."

"You said it yourself just a couple of days ago, I have never shown romantic interest in someone. I don't do attraction."

"Ah, but you like to look at me, that you have to admit." Tom said with a teasing smirk. Harry blushed and looked away.

"That doesn't mean anything. There's plenty of people that are nice to look at. Just because your hair and cheekbones and I'm shutting up now." Harry grumbled.

"If you don't do attraction, what do you do?"

Harry shrugged helplessly.  
"Nothing. Maybe I haven't found the right one, maybe there's no one for me. I'm happy on my own for the time being."

"No meaningless sex?" Tom asked with a pointedly raised eyebrow. Harry blushed again.

"No sex at all."

"What about kissing?"

"Once. There was mistletoe. Shut up."

"I'm not saying anything." Tom grinned. Harry pointedly went back to his dinner. They both ate quietly until they were full. Harry started on the dishes after he had put away the leftover soup. Tom surprised him by drying the clean dishes without have been asked.

"Did you write your parents a letter?" Tom asked as he put away their bowls. Harry blinked.

"Oh. I knew I had forgotten something." he said, more to himself than to Tom.

"You forgot?" Tom repeated, actually stunned for a moment. Harry sheepishly dragged a hand through his hair, making the curls seem even wilder.

"I was working on the potion." he answered simply.

"Don't overwork yourself."

Harry turned to look at Tom for a long moment. Finally, he nodded.  
"Okay."

* * *

 When there were no trails of their dinner left and he had cleaned up and put away his notes, Harry sat down at the kitchen table again. He had an empty piece of parchment and a self-inking quill in front of him. He could hear Tom in the bedroom, but he had no idea what the man might be doing. With a determined sigh, Harry picked up the quill and put it against the parchment.

 _Mother, father, whoever else is there with you,_  
_I'm fine. Yes, Tom Riddle have kidnapped me, but I promise you, I'm fine._

_His familiar is sick, and he kidnapped me in hope that I can heal her. At first, he wasn't going to go to such lengths, but then mother endangered him since she had offered me help. It's my own fault for accepting said help, without informing Riddle about it. It wasn't the first time he visited me in the Magical Menagerie, since he did entrust me to care for his familiar without him watching over us. I should have expected the situation and prevented it, but I didn't. I'm sorry._

_There's no need to save me. Riddle agreed to let me write this letter when I told him that you would be worried. He has even let me keep my wand, which I must say have surprised me._

_I don't know if I'll be able to write more letters. Most likely not._

_I'll be back with you before you know it. As soon as his familiar is healthy again, Riddle has agreed to let me go. He has even promised to compensate me for my help, though I don't know how._

_I'll see you soon,_  
_Harry_

He put down the quill again and read through the short letter. It seemed enough. They would likely still be worried, but there was nothing else to write. Or… well, it was worth a try. Tom would likely read through the letter before letting him send it anyway, so he would know if it wasn't okay. Harry lifted up the quill again.

_P.S. You can ask Lucius Malfoy if you don't trust me, or if you desperately need to get in contact with me._

There. He hoped it was okay. Harry left it on the kitchen table to dry, and walked over to the part of the room that served as living room. He could just as well transfigure that sofa. Which reminded him…

"I'm not planning on wearing the same clothes for who-knows-how-long!" he called to the bedroom.

"Just borrow some of mine!" Tom called back. It was a bit ridiculous that they were yelling back and forth through a door.

"I don't think they'll fit me!" Harry yelled back. He got his wand out and started on transfiguring the sofa to a comfortable bed. He heard Tom open the bedroom door.

"Are you saying that the clothes you are wearing fit you?" Tom asked. Harry finished transfiguring the sofa before looking down on his clothes. An worn Muggle shirt with a print of some punk band that his godfather Sirius had given him, and a pair of old jeans. He turned towards Tom.

"Well enough." Harry answered with a shrug.

"I would comment something along the lines that I can't believe that you wear Muggle clothes, but since you work with animals the whole day I guess I can excuse it." Tom sighed.

"There's nothing wrong with Muggle clothes!" Harry protested.

"Of course not, _darling_. Back to the actual subject, you can resize my clothes so that they fit."

"...you do realize that I'll have to borrow underwear as well?" Harry mumbled, his demeanor taking a sudden turn to shy.

"Indeed, unless you chose to go commando." Tom grinned, showing off his teeth. Harry shivered. "I think I look forward to seeing you in my clothes." Harry blushed, and then cursed himself for doing it. It was the third time today, damnit.

"Just fetch me some clothes to sleep in already. Also, a towel and a toothbrush. I want to take a shower, and it's not like I got my own stuff with me." Harry paused. "Why would anyone kidnap a person? There's way too much they need."

"Usually the kidnapper doesn't care about the kidnapped person's welfare." Tom pointed out dryly.

"So why do you care?" Harry questioned, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Because, _my dear_ , I find you interesting."

"Just go fetch me those clothes." Harry said, and turned back to look at his bed. He had yet to transfigure some pillows and blankets for it. He could just conjure some, but then there would be the risk of them disappearing in the middle of the night. After looking around a bit, he tore up a bit of parchment in smaller pieces and transfigured them to blankets and pillows. Happy with his bed, Harry put away his wand. When he turned around, he saw Tom looking at him.

"You know, it would have been a lot easier if you slept in my bed." Tom said with a teasing smile, and handed him some clothes and a towel.

"Do you have a toothbrush or do I need to transfigure that as well?" Harry asked, ignoring Tom's comment.

"You need to transfigure one." Tom answered, and Harry nodded.

"Where's Nagini anyway? I don't think I've seen her since before you kidnapped me."

"She has some warm stones in the bathroom that she enjoys sleeping on."

"...so I have to shower with a snake in the same room."

"Well, you could throw her out, but I don't think you will." Tom said. Harry sighed.

"As long as it's a snake without hands, I guess I don't see the danger." he said, and went to the bathroom before Tom could respond. Harry made sure to lock the door with a few spells just in case, before turning around to look at the bathroom. Nagini was indeed laying on some warm stones in a corner.

" _I'm going to take a shower, Nagini._ " Harry said, as he put down the clothes and towel Tom let him borrow on the toilet seat.

" _As long as I don't get wet, hatchling._ " Nagini answered. She had opened one eye to look at him. Harry turned his back to her so that he could undress.

" _Can you avoid telling Tom about my body this time?_ " Harry asked, as he remembered the snippets of conversation that he had overheard yesterday. Nagini snorted.

" _So he's Tom now, hatchling?_ " she asked. Harry decided that the best course of action would be to ignore her. He wasn't quite sure when he had gone from Riddle to Tom, and he didn't want to think about it. Instead he let the last of his dirty clothes fall to the floor and put his glasses on top of the clean clothes. After he had blinked a few times to get used to the blurry vision, Harry found his way to the shower.

* * *

 20 minutes later, Harry got out of the bathroom with a pair of Tom's pyjama pants on, his hair dripping water down over his chest and Nagini curled around his shoulders. Tom whistled from where he was sat by the kitchen table. Harry felt his cheeks flush, and cursed since that made it four times.

"Are you even aware that you look like sin on two legs?" Tom asked as he let his eyes wander slowly over Harry's body. Harry shivered slightly under Tom's scrutinizing glance. He wasn't sure why… it made him feel a bit uncomfortable, yes, but it was not only that. It was strange.

"I'm not a sinner." he replied, and casted a drying spell on his hair. Hopefully magic had more effect on his hair than the towel did.

"Not yet." Tom agreed. Harry glared at him, and Nagini gave out some hisses that sounded suspiciously like she was laughing.

"Have you looked over the letter?" Harry asked, both to change the subject and because he was curious.

"Yes. I've also sent it for you, and informed Lucius about the situation. I agree with you that your family might feel better if they know how to contact you." Tom answered easily. Harry would have been charmed if he actually trusted the man.

"What are you trying to gain by being so nice to me?" Harry demanded.

"Pleasant company."

"I guess you don't get much company because of your occupation." Harry mumbled, since he had decided to go with Tom's answer for now.

"Especially not as lovely company as yours." Tom agreed.

"Oh? Lucius' company is not as pleasing?" Harry questioned. "He's quite the looker…" he added truthfully. Draco wasn't aesthetically displeasing of course, but he prefered Lucius' more mature looks if he had to have an opinion.

"Perhaps he is, but my type is rather dark and fiery, not pale and sophisticated." Tom answered with a small smile. Harry blinked before he realized that Tom referred to him, and he blushed again.

"Are you deliberately trying to make me blush?" Harry muttered with a scowl.

"It is very entertaining." Tom answered. Nagini seemed to laugh again, and Harry glared at her.

"If you don't have any business in the kitchen, I'm going to bed, so leave." Harry decided. Tom chuckled at him, but got up from his seat at the kitchen table and went into the bedroom. Harry sighed in relief.

" _Don't even say it._ " he said to Nagini, and sat down on his bed. He just knew she would continue talking about him and Tom being mates otherwise. Nagini snorted, and uncurled herself from his shoulders so that she could lay on the bed. Harry turned off the lights before he got under the covers. He put his glasses on the floor and stuck his wand under the pillow. Nagini moved so that she was laying ontop of him.

" _It's nice with another speaker around._ " Nagini said after a while.

" _Gets lonely when only Tom understands, doesn't it?_ " Harry asked. This day had already been so odd, that a deep conversation with a snake seemed like nothing.

" _Master is good company, but there are only so much to say, hatchling._ "

" _Good thing that I'll be staying until your healthy then, is it not?_ "

" _Depends._ " Nagini said. " _Is it going to be soon?_ "

" _It can take months._ " Harry admitted.

 _"Good. Then hatchling has time to realize that this is his nest._ " Nagini answered, in a tone that didn't allow any protests. Harry looked at her as well as he could in the dark without his glasses.

" _I already have a nest, Nagini. You've been there._ "

" _That wasn't a nest. That was a cage._ " Nagini answered. Harry didn't find it in himself to disagree.

" _You would expect it to be the other way around._ " he finally said. " _Goodnight, Nagini._ " he then added, feeling tired after the long day. Nagini didn't answer, but that was just as well. Harry soon fell asleep, feeling safe even when he knew he was prisoner and Tom - a murderer - were just a few meters away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Harry and attraction!!  
> I think grey-asexual and demiromantic fits the most?  
> He does feel some sexual attraction towards Tom, but since he's never really experienced it before, he's trying to pass it off as aesthetic attraction. He could be aromantic, but for this I personally think that it's rather a question of not getting to know anyone well enough for falling in love with them. Remember, he's spent a lot of time if people befriend him for him or for his famous parents. Therefore, I'll try to portray him as demiromantic.  
> Any protests? Please point out if I've already failed horribly at portraying it.
> 
> I'm on the aro/ace spectrum myself, but being asexual and quiromantic, I have no real knowledge of attraction works.
> 
> So, second most important thing. The votes.  
> Peverell: 11  
> Creature: 9
> 
> Warning, the Peverell thing will lead down the Master of Death-route and very likely involve Dumbledore-bashing.
> 
> Also!! Should I add any tags or change the rating?  
> You may have noticed by now that Potion Invention is a very legit tag.
> 
> Oh, also! I'm on tumblr @tomarry-riddle if you want to talk! I draw a lot of gorgons, though only gorgon!Harry once. I also post some headcanons and stuff?? It's like. 99% Harry Potter.


	3. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did happen when Lily woke up?

**INTERLUDE**

The world slowly came into focus as she groggily blinked her eyes. What was she doing on the floor? Where was Harry? The last she could remember was- was- ...nothing? Lily started to backtrack her morning as she sat up. They had apparated directly to the Magical Menagerie, and as Harry opened up she had gone into the backroom to start their work. Then they had worked together until… until… until someone came in! Someone had entered the backroom! They had said something, she knew that, but funnily enough she wasn't sure what. It had sounded pleasant, but when she turned around to see who it was, she had got stunned. Who had it been? It had been a man, hadn't it… and younger than her, but older than Harry… Harry! Lily got up from the floor and looked around fervently after signs of her son. Potion ingredients and papers were on the floor, and there was no sign of either Harry or Nagini.

After she had taken a deep breathe to ground herself, Lily quietly ventured into the main room. The animals were still there, and everything seemed in order… but Harry and Nagini were still gone. Could they have gone outside to get help after she was stunned? No… why would Harry do that? He could defend himself quite well, and there had been no signs of a fight… Had the strange man stunned Harry as well? Then why was he gone? Why was Nagini gone? She couldn't come up with a reason as to why anyone would want to take her Harry and someone else's snake. Perhaps it was just a prank… yes, of course. Harry had grown up with the Marauders, and although he had never been one for pranking, things could change. Lily smiled to herself, calmed by the thought. Surely, Harry was waiting outside the shop for her. The strange man must have been one of Harry's friends.

Feeling better with this new knowledge, Lily walked through the shop door and out into Diagon Alley. She couldn't see Harry, and it was with a small frown that she looked around after him. As she turned to go back inside and look again, something caught her eye. Lily looked up at the sky, and screamed. Above the Magical Menagerie hung the Dark Mark, Riddle's mark. The Undesirable no. 1 had her son.

"Healer Potter, calm down!"

She snapped her mouth shut as a hand was placed on her shoulder, and turned to look at the speaker. Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt… the presence of an Auror made her feel calmer and she gave him a strained smile.

"Thank you. I needed that." she admitted quietly, before her smile faded and reality hit her once more.

"Healer Potter, what are you doing here?" Shacklebolt asked after she had calmed down a bit.

"My son works here. I was helping him with a potion for a client."

"Your son had a client?" Shacklebolt repeated with some confusion.

"Oh yes, a sick snake. It's funny though, the snake is gone as well…"

"As well, Mrs Potter?" Shacklebolt asked.

"Harry has been kidnapped." Lily answered, her tone emotionless. She couldn't fathom what Riddle could possibly want with her Harry. Her son was brilliant, yes, but he was merely a pet shop worker. She couldn't see what would attract a murderer to him.

"Kidnapped?" Shacklebolt repeated, and looked towards the Dark Mark. "Riddle doesn't kidnap."

"I know." Lily whispered. Had she not feared for her son's life before, she surely did now. Shacklebolt sighed.

"Tonks! Take Mrs Potter home, will you?" he ordered. Lily looked up and let her eyes fall on Tonks. The sight of a familiar face brought tears to her eyes.

"Yessir!" Tonks answered, and took Lily's hand. Lily looked towards the Magical Menagerie and the Dark Mark before they disapparated.

* * *

Lily sat by the dining table, a mug of tea between her shaking hands. She was staring at nothing as she waited for James to come home. Tonks had helped her sit down and had got a mug of tea for her from Tipsy. Lily had sent her away to contact James, Sirius, Remus and Severus. She needed her husband by her side, and Harry's godfathers' deserved to know what had happened, and Remus as well as a family friend.

"Lils?"

She turned her head slightly towards the noise, and her eyes focused in on James. Her hands were still shaking and her shoulders tensed for just a moment. James slowly approached her, and took the seat next to her. Lily followed his movements silently. He pried her shaking hands from the mug of tea, and held them tightly.

"What happened, Lils?" James asked quietly. She shook her head, the movement barely there. She didn't want to say it more than once, they would have to wait. James were about to say something more when Severus entered the room. Lily more felt than saw how her best friend sat down on her other side. James had a look of confusion in his eyes. It grew stronger as Sirius and Remus entered the room. Lily waited until they had sat down as well, this time opposite her.

"H-harry…" she started quietly, as she tried to force the words out. In the back of her mind, she wondered if Tonks had left. She assumed so. "He's.. Harry's… he's kidnapped." she got out, before she broke down in tears. Severus started to stroke her back, and his touch calmed her. James' grip on her hands tightened and she heard Sirius exclaim something in shock. Then she was turned around so that she faced Severus and a vial was pressed into her hands.

"Calming Draught." Severus said. Lily fumbled with the vial before she got it open. She drank the draught quickly. Her hands stopped shaking as the effects settled in. Lily gave a weak smile as thanks.

"Who kidnapped him, Lily?" Remus asked carefully. She turned to him, her face expressionless.

"Riddle."

* * *

It took a moment and some more Calming Draughts before the men had collected themselves.

"We need to save him." Sirius broke the silence, his tone as brash as always. James made an agreeing noise but neither Remus nor Severus seemed convinced. Lily chose to stay quiet. She would do anything to get her son back, but…

"From Tom Riddle, the man that the Aurors and Hit Wizards can't catch?" Severus asked.

"He's right, Siri. You can't expect someone that not even the Ministry can't find." Remus said, as he put a hand on Sirius' arm. Lily hoped it would be enough to calm him down.

"What about Dumbledore?" James suggested quietly. "He's powerful, more so than the Minister I dare say. Not to mention that Riddle went to Hogwarts, so maybe the Headmaster knows something."

"Potter, if you've forgotten, I'm still the potions teacher, and I can tell you as Riddle's former Head of House that there's nothing known about him." Severus sighed.

"We could still go to Dumbledore." Remus suggested. "He does have a knack for knowing everything."

"I suppose you're right." Severus said, as much as he hated to admit it.

"Perhaps we should wait." Lily spoke up. "Riddle is a murderer, not a kidnapper."

"He broke the pattern." Remus took over. "He might break it again. We might hear from Harry."

"It's… unlikely, but it's a better idea to wait." Severus agreed. "Lily, what can you tell us about the kidnapping?"

"Riddle, he… he entered the room… I can't remember what he started to say." she slowly began. It felt so off. Why wouldn't she remember that? Why was that detail escaping her when everything else was perfectly clear? "I turned around, and he stunned me. When I woke up, both Harry and Nagini were gone."

"Nagini?" Remus asked.

"A snake. Harry had taken her home with him just the day before. He was trying to invent a potion for her sickness…" Lily trailed off. The only reason as to why Riddle would take Nagini was… but surely… no, why would Harry have had her in that case?

"You think Nagini is Riddle's snake." Sirius stated. They turned to him in various states of surprise. Sirius shrugged at them. "Why else would he take the snake?"

"So… we're assuming that Harry was taking care of Riddle's sick snake. They must have interacted before the kidnapping." Severus said. "Then why didn't Harry tell anyone?"

"The Imperius?" James suggested.

"Could be." Remus agreed. Lily shook her head.

"No… Harry was so full of life. I don't think it was the Imperius." she said.

There wasn't opportunity for anyone to say anything more, as an owl swept into the room and dropped a letter on the table. They stared at it, until Severus took out his wand and started to check it for curses or spells.

"It's clean." he said, and put away his wand. Lily reached for the letter. Her hands were shaking again as she straightened out the roll of parchment. Familiar handwriting met her, and she gasped.

"It's from Harry!"

"Read it!" James urged her. Lily took a calming breath.

"Mother, father, whoever else is there with you,  
I'm fine. Yes, Tom Riddle have kidnapped me, but I promise you, I'm fine.

His familiar is sick, and he kidnapped me in hope that I can heal her. At first, he wasn't going to go to such lengths, but then mother endangered him since she had offered me help. It's my own fault for accepting said help, without informing Riddle about it. It wasn't the first time he visited me in the Magical Menagerie, since he did entrust me to care for his familiar without him watching over us. I should have expected the situation and prevented it, but I didn't. I'm sorry.

There's no need to save me. Riddle agreed to let me write this letter when I told him that you would be worried. He has even let me keep my wand, which I must say have surprised me.

I don't know if I'll be able to write more letters. Most likely not.

I'll be back with you before you know it. As soon as his familiar is healthy again, Riddle has agreed to let me go. He has even promised to compensate me for my help, though I don't know how.

I'll see you soon,  
Harry

P.S. You can ask Lucius Malfoy if you don't trust me, or if you desperately need to get in contact with me." she read, her voice shaking. "There's a message in another handwriting at the bottom…"

"May I see?" Severus asked. Lily handed him the letter. He scanned through it before stopping on the message.

"What does it say?" Remus asked.

" _As Harry wrote, he's fine. Unlike what he wrote, I had intended to get him in my grasp from the beginning, though perhaps not through kidnapping. Your son is very interesting, Mr and Mrs Potter. I find myself captured by him. I promise to take good care of him. Do contact Lucius if you want anything. Of course, I can't permit you to see Harry in fear of him being taken away from me, but I'll make sure any messages you have for him will be passed along. I would recommend dropping the letter as it's going to destroy itself._ " Severus dropped the letter as he finished reading. It burst out in flames until a small pile of ashes on the table was the only thing left.

"...at least there's no doubt that Harry's okay." Sirius commented.

"It doesn't sound like Riddle is going to let him go even after Nagini is healthy." Remus said quietly. "He seems rather possessive even in that short message."

"He can't have my son!" Lily cried, though something about Riddle's possessiveness made her think back on his greeting. She was in too much distress to put much weight on it.

"They could be lying…" James said quietly. "Though Riddle can't harm Harry much if he wants his snake to get healthy."

"I know Lucius." Severus admitted. "I can pay him a visit to confirm the situation, and to pass along messages." Lily turned to him with tearful eyes.

"Would you please, Sev? I would feel better if you did."

"Write him a letter, Lily. I'll make sure that he gets it." Severus answered quietly.

* * *

Severus apparated directly into Lucius' study. His friend looked as if he had been expected, and Severus scowled in annoyance. He would have prefered it if his friend knew nothing about Harry's kidnapping.

"It's true then?" Severus drawled. "You know that Harry Potter has been kidnapped?"

"I heard something like that in the Ministry, yes." Lucius answered calmly.

"No need to act guarded, Lucius. We got a message from Riddle himself, referring to you." Severus huffed.

"Ah. I've been informed by _him_."

"And? Do you have any information? Any messages to pass along?" Severus demanded. Lucius raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Now now, Severus, whyever would I keep such information from you?" Lucius asked. Severus scowled. He had hoped to learn something more, but of course not.

"Then you'll have to play owl for me, Lucius." Severus answered, and took three letters from his robe. "Two for Harry, and one for Riddle." he explained, as he slammed the letters down on Lucius' desk.

"I'll make sure they get them." Lucius promised. "Now, do you have any other business with me?"

"No." Severus muttered, and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucius and Tom's relationship is honestly just dark smoke with a lot of question marks.  
> As we know from last chapter, Tom was born in 1971. Well, Lucius was born in 1954 (I'm trusting the wiki on this.) Anyway, we have a 17 year age difference here.  
> Tom became a murderer basically straight out of Hogwarts - so, amusingly enough for me, he started his career in 1991. When Harry began Hogwarts.  
> (1971 + 11 = 1982, + 1 year bc he was born in December = 1983, Tom went to Hogwarts between September 1983 - June 1991... okay this went off track)
> 
> Eh. Back to Lucius and Tom. You may already have calculated this, but this story takes place in 1999, after September sometime. I haven't really thought about the timeline...  
> But anyway, this gives us approximately 8 years where Tom and Lucy can have met. Lucy would realistically not care much for 18-year old, newly graduated Tom.  
> They would have gotten in contact before Tom became the Undesirable no. 1, so lets say that they met anywhere during... hm... 1992 and 1997? I imagine that Tom has been the Undesirable for a while.
> 
> Okay, I'm at a loss, but I'm more than happy to hear your ideas for how they might have met.  
> Also, underneath all that dark smoke and question marks, Lucius is somewhat terrified of Tom, and they bot use the other - Lucy to get rid of people, Tom for money and political changes. He probably writes up some stuff and have Lucius present them. Lucy likely owes Tom for some reason or another. I'm just putting their relationship in your hands for now.
> 
> So, now that that's out of the way!  
> I closed the voting ^^" Actually, I decided to merge the options.
> 
> So... warning, this means; creature!Harry, Dumbledore-bashing, and that we'll go down the Master of Death-track. Not really sure when though. Not in the next chapter, that's for sure. If only because that chapter is already written and posted on ff.net.
> 
> I like to ramble, and if you comment, I might take that as an invitation to ramble more.


	4. Heavy conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day as kidnapped is not anything like the first.

Harry woke up to a weight on his chest. Somewhat used to it by now after the last few days, he opened his eyes and expected to see Nagini's blurry form looking back at him. Therefore, he visibly startled when he with squinted eyes made out the shape of a head instead.

"T-tom?" Harry spluttered as he wildly searched for his glasses on the floor. Tom slid them onto his face for him, and Harry blinked rapidly at their close proximity. Tom was sitting on the floor next to the bed, with his head placed on Harry's chest. Only a bit closer, and their lips would be touching.

"Good morning, _darling_." Tom chirped happily. Harry startled again, this time so violently that Tom was forced to move his head away and sit back straight. Harry sat up before Tom could rest his head on him again. Harry took the opportunity to get a good look of Tom for the first time that morning, and immediately froze.

"Is that… is that blood?" Harry questioned weakly. Tom grinned at him.

"It's not mine." Tom answered in a singsong voice. Harry had to wonder if he was on Muggle-drugs.

"Then who's?"

"Vlavior Uprix, a member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors."  
Tom's grin widened, and Harry shivered at the resemblance to a predator.

"Why?"

"I am a murderer, _darling_ , you shouldn't forget."

"But _why_?" Harry pressed. "You usually target Wizengamot members or Ministry workers."

Tom shrugged, his grin still in place.  
"Nice to know that you follow my work, _darling_. I owed dear Lucy a favor for getting him to work as an owl. Speaking of, there's letters."

" _Lucius_ Malfoy asked you to murder Uprix?" Harry repeated incredulously.

"I think the words he used were _dispose of_ , but yes."

"But that happened yesterday! When did you have time to murder someone? Why already?"

"I woke up early, and I thought you might appreciate if this got turned into the _Prophet_ 's top story instead of your kidnapping."

"I- eh. Thanks?" Harry said awkwardly. He didn't know how to react. As he looked at Tom uncertainly, he got reminded of his first question. "Nothing of that explains why you're covered in Uprix' blood! Or why you were staring at me while I was sleeping!"

"You didn't actually ask that second question." Tom pointed out cheekily. "I'm covered in blood because using the killing curse gets pretty boring pretty soon."

"So _why_ were you staring at me? And why are you so goddamn happy?"  
Harry hated to admit it, but it was greatly unnerving.

"I thought it would be fun to make a habit out of it. I was staring at you yesterday too." Tom answered, his grin widening to show teeth. "As for your second question, it's the high after a murder. If you only had been interested, we could have had some amazing sex... "

Harry choked on his reply and his face flushed. It was definitely time to get up from the bed. Maybe take a cold shower.

"Just do something about that blood!" he snapped, and got up just to hurry into the bathroom and lock the door behind him.

"I can't if you're in the bathroom!" Tom called through the door with a singsong tone.

"Use fucking magic!" Harry called back. Yes, a cold shower would fit well right about now.

* * *

Harry left the bathroom 20 minutes later, embarrassed to be clutching a towel around his waist. He had been midways through his shower when he realized that he hadn't thought to bring any clean clothes with him. Tom had moved from the floor to sit on Harry's bed. He whistled appreciatively when he saw Harry.

"You're wearing even less than yesterday. I don't mind if you turn this into a habit."

"Shut up. I forgot to bring a change of clothes."

Tom hummed. Harry couldn't figure out what kind of response it was supposed to be, so he shot Tom a puzzled look.

"I'll bring you a change of clothes." Tom said and got up from the bed. Harry sighed in relief when he noticed that Tom had removed the blood from his clothes. He looked back up to see Tom watching him closely. Harry wrapped the towel tighter around him, and Tom smiled before going into the bedroom. Harry shook his head slightly and sat down on his bed.

" _Pay me attention, hatchling._ " Nagini demanded and slithered up on the bed next to him. Harry turned his head slightly to look at her.

" _Good morning, beautiful._ " he answered. Nagini gave a nod of her head in satisfaction.

" _You wound me, darling. Don't I get any compliments?_ " Tom asked, as he came back with a change of clothes in his hands. Harry blinked owlishly at him.

" _You're a right bastard, did you know that?_ " Harry asked rhetorically. Tom tutted at him.

" _I'll have you know that my parents were married_." Tom answered, and handed him the clothes. "You should know, parseltongue is quite the _sexual_ language. Like french, or italian. You should perhaps think before you use it."

"Or you'll what? Molest me? Force your way?" Harry spat the words out. Tom blanched.

"Do not mistake me for someone that foul, Harry." Tom said, his words cutting. "I was trying to warn you from giving me false impressions, since you so stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the attraction you feel towards me."

"Oh…" Harry bit his lip. "I'm sorry." he said softly. Tom gave him a long look.

"Don't play with fire." Tom warned. "Now, I believe you should get dressed, then we can eat breakfast."

Harry nodded and fled into the bathroom for the second time that morning.

* * *

Tom had already prepared breakfast for the both of them when Harry came out, this time clothed. He had frowned when he had discovered the clothes to be a pair of tight dragonhide pants and a acromantula silk shirt with a modern wizarding cut that involved two rows of buttons and reminded him of an uniform, but he had to admit that they fit quite well.

"Finally, clothes that fit you!" Tom exclaimed happily upon seeing him. Harry bit his lip instead of responding. How long would Tom be on an after-murder high? It must have been over an hour since the murder took place by now…

"Do sit down, _dear_." Tom said and broke him from his thoughts. Harry sat down by the table and started to serve himself breakfast. He gave the eggs a wary glance, as he remembered what Tom had said yesterday. They were probably not for eating.

"Where's Nagini?" Harry asked. "I feel like she keeps disappearing."

Tom hummed thoughtfully.

"Maybe under the bed, or she found a way to go through the pipes again."

"She's very quick for her size." Harry commented. Nagini was a safe topic to talk about, especially as Tom was still acting out of sorts.

"Of course. I would only have the best familiar." Tom said cheekily. Harry had to bite his lip to not respond with a sarcastic _of course_ and a roll of his eyes.

"Lucy had letters for you. I don't think you heard me when I told you the first time." Tom said after they had both ate quietly for a while. Harry looked up from his mug of tea.

"Letters? As in more than one letter?" he asked incredulous. Surely his parents wouldn't send him two separate letters, and who else would be able to send him one through Lucius? They could have contacted his godfather Sirius… yeah, that was actually likely.

Tom hummed again.  
"I also got one, from your dear godfather Severus Snape."

"Snape?" Harry repeated, his tone even more incredulous now. "Professor Snape is my godfather? I wonder how they could miss telling me that detail."

"He was my Head of House. I can see why one would regret making him a godfather."

"I'm not sure if I should get upset because you're indirectly insulting professor Snape, who happen to be absolutely brilliant though unsocial, or if I should question how you knew that he's my godfather before I did."

"I do like it when you get upset. It was such a nice display yesterday, especially as you ended up in my embrace…"

Harry cleared his throat.  
"That's not how I remember it. I believe it went more along the lines of me trying to attack you, and you stopping me."

"As I said, I like them fiery." Tom teased. Harry bristled.

"Back to the topic! How come you knew he's my godfather before I did?"

"He wrote so." Tom answered simply. Harry blinked. It was rather anti-climatic.

"What else did he write?"

Tom tutted at him. Harry held back a grimace. It was almost weirder that it happened again than it was that it happened at all.  
"I do believe that the letter was addressed to me, _darling_ , not you."

"Tell me anyway?" Harry asked with a nonchalant shrug.

"It really wasn't that interesting. Some colourful threats - which honestly were more like suggestion as to how I can bring more creativity into murdering, I can't believe he thought it intelligent to make detailed threats to someone who might use them - and a mention of going to Dumbledore for help if they have no other choice."

This time, Harry did grimace.  
"Why would the go to Dumbledore? I told them, I'm _fine_!"

"Aren't parents supposed to care?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They never do!" Harry protested. "I'm not what they want, so they don't care! They just want to keep appearing as the perfect family, even if they're never there for me! Yesterday was the first time I spent time doing something with my mother in I don't know how long! I'm lucky if I see her once a week!"  
He distractedly noticed how their dishes started to shake on the table as he worked himself up.

"Harry." Tom got up from his chair. " _Calm down_."

"Why?! It takes me being kidnapped for them to care! James only talks to me to tell me I should become an auror, and I'm willing to bet that he didn't write me! My mother is at work all the time, it's like she's not living at home! I actually wrote them to tell them that I'm fine, and now they're worried about me?! I can't believe them!"

" _Harry_." Tom repeated warningly and approached him. Some of the plates had been smashed. The eggs were amazingly enough untouched by his wild magic.

"They never let me be just a kid! Always pressure to be the best, to be like them! Their fame has been suffocating me for as long as I can remember! Why can't they trust me to live my own life?! I've tried and tried and I'm so sick of trying when they'll never be happy with me! I just want to be me! I want to be _just Harry_ for once in my fucking life!"

" _Harry!_ " Tom repeated for a third time as their mugs exploded. Harry slumped over the table after his outbreak, exhausted by the use of magic. Tom sighed before lifting Harry up.

"I told you to calm down, _my dear_. So stubborn, so fiesty…" Tom sighed. He carried Harry to the bed and carefully placed him down. Tom sat down next to him and started playing with his hair.

"I know you're still awake." Tom said gently. "You should rest."

Harry obeyed.

* * *

Tom was still playing with his hair when Harry groggily woke up.

"For how long was I out?" he asked as he blinked blearily up at Tom. His glasses had been removed.

"Three hours." Tom responded calmly.

"You've been here the whole time?" Harry asked with badly hidden surprise.

"Yes. It seemed like you needed it."

"Thank you… and I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For getting worked up like that… and destroying your dishes…"

"It's fine. Nothing some magic couldn't fix. You're allowed to be yourself, Harry." Tom said softly.

"Thank you." Harry repeated breathlessly and gave Tom a weak smile. Tom's hand in his hair stilled for a moment before it continued.

"You can take the day off if you want to. Read your letters, maybe respond to them, read a book…" Tom suggested.

"No, I'll work on the potion. Will you help?"

"Of course." Tom promised. Neither of them made a move to actually start working.

* * *

It was first an hour later that they could be found by the kitchen table instead of on Harry's bed. Harry was bent down over his notes as Tom checked what he had already written. Except for low murmurs when one of them started to think out loud, no words were exchanged. Harry found it all surprisingly domesticated, yet nice. It was a welcomed change from the awkward morning. The letters that Tom had mentioned laid forgotten on the kitchen worktop. Harry didn't have the energy to read them, and really, they couldn't be that important. Working on the potion was a reasonable priority.

* * *

"You're not actually planning on using acromantula venom and moondew together, are you?" Tom asked incredulous. "They would cancel each other out and make the potion unstable."

Harry hummed under his breath.  
"Which is why I'm using vinegar in between, it'll act as a stabilizer."

"You need to add three clockwise stirs and one counter-clockwise after the vinegar for that to work."

"Really? I thought waiting until the potion started to boil would be enough."

"No, see here…" Tom said, and pushed his notes towards Harry to look at. "If the potion boils, the vinegar will be unable to work as a stabilizer, and you need to add the moondew after the acromantula venom unless you want to change the whole order. The potion will work better if you add the stirs." he explained. Harry looked through the notes.

"You're right." Harry said, blinking as he looked at Tom. "I had forgotten. Thank you." he said and went to make the corrections in the recipe.

"You're welcome." Tom murmured as he looked at Harry. Harry glanced at him, but quickly got distracted by a new idea and hurried to write it down.

"What do you think works best, silverweed or goosegrass?" Harry mumbled as he read through what he had written.

"Silverweed, since goosegrass is better for healing of the skin. Silverweed has more of an internal use."

"Maybe I'll make a second potion for her scales." Harry suggested in a joking tone.

"You should." Tom answered. "It'll keep you here longer."

Harry pretended to not have heard, and started on calculations for the right amount of silverweed needed instead.

* * *

Tom had forced him to take a pause after two hours of working on the potion. Harry sat on his bed, staring on the two letters that he held in his hands. He had yet to open them. Tom was in the kitchen, making something for them to eat. Harry was almost inclined to ask about the eggs, just so he could avoid reading the letters. He didn't want to know what they said.

" _Are you troubled, hatchling?_ " Nagini asked, and placed her head on his shoulder. Harry startled. He hadn't been aware that Nagini was behind him.

" _Just lost in thoughts_." Harry answered vaguely.

" _What sort of thoughts?_ "

" _Just… thoughts. About my family. About Tom._ "

" _What about master?_ "

" _Stockholm syndrome. The Muggles came up with it. It's when a hostage feels positive feelings for their captor._ "

" _I asked about my master, hatchling, not about your family._ " Nagini answered, and hit him slightly with her tail. Harry smiled bitterly.

" _I guess you're right._ " he sighed. " _I don't know what I think about Tom. He scares me as much as he intrigues me. I don't understand him._ "

" _If it helps, he doesn't understand you either._ " Nagini answered. Harry smiled weakly.

" _It does help. Thank you._ " Harry said. He gave the letters a last glance before stuffing them underneath his pillow. Harry scratched Nagini's head to show his appreciation before he went over to see if he could help Tom with anything.

* * *

"I heard you talking with Nagini." Tom confessed as they sat down to eat. Harry glanced at him but didn't answer. "I might have heard all about you from Draco, but I don't _know_ you, and you don't know me. I don't think either of us feel as familiar towards the other as we act, and I do realize that my behaviour only makes it worse for you. We can't start over, but I'll try to behave until we do know each other. Is it acceptable?"

"You wouldn't be you if you tried to change, even by just toning it down." Harry sighed. "I'll be okay tomorrow. I think the situation finally caught up to me today, and it doesn't help that I woke up to you staring at me while covered in blood."

Tom gave an ashamed smile.

"No, I don't believe that was one of my greater ideas."

"I forgive you." Harry said. Tom looked at him with obvious surprise.

"You're not what you seem, Harry Potter." he finally said. Harry didn't know what to answer.

* * *

"Are you not going to read the letters?" Tom asked. They were sat on Harry's bed in lack of a sofa. They _could_ have transfigured the bed back to a sofa, but it would have been unnecessary. It was fairly late, but neither of them felt comfortable going to sleep after the frankly weird day they've had. Harry less so than Tom.

"I am… I just _can't_." Harry said with a small shake of his head. "It seemed brilliant yesterday when you let me write them, but now I'm worried about what they have to say. I know I'm irrational, they're my parents, I'm sure they love me for me, but I'd rather not have anything confirmed just yet."

"I can always kill them if they hurt you." Tom offered. It didn't sound like he was joking.

"That'll be unnecessary." Harry said sternly. "It's enough that you stunned my mother."

Tom held up his hands as a sign of surrender.  
"I'm not going to do anything to your parents." he promised. "Unless they really deserve it."

"I guess I can live with the compromise." Harry sighed.

"You know, you should be happy that you have parents." Tom said. Harry looked at him questioningly. "I'm an orphan." he added as an explanation.

"Oh." Harry answered, not sure what else there was to say. Tom smiled bitterly.

"Oh indeed." he agreed.

"You're not your parents." Harry said after a moment of silence. Tom looked at him, puzzled.  
"It's been my mantra for years." Harry explained. "Even if you don't know your parents, it's good to remember that you're your own person."

"Thank you." Tom said quietly. Harry gave him a weak smile.

"We really should speak of nicer things."

Tom grinned.

"We could speak of me and you, and this bed."

"I- Wha-" Harry spluttered as he understood what Tom was hinting at. "I'm still not interested!"

"I'm here if you ever change your mind, _darling_."

"You know what, you should go so I can sleep." Harry said. Tom didn't move.

"I promise to not flirt for the rest of the conversation." Tom offered. Harry sighed. He seemed to sigh a lot today, but it was definitely better than blushing all the time.

"What do we have to talk about?" Harry asked wearily.

"Everything. Nothing. I don't know. Tell me about you."

"You already seem to know everything about me."

"Just the _facts_ , _darling_. I don't know _you_."

"There's nothing to know." Harry insisted.

"How do you expect people to know _just Harry_ if you don't talk about yourself?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry sat stunned and tried to not blush. He had never quite thought of it like that and he felt embarrassed because of the obvious miss he had made.

"I don't know… I don't like talking about myself." he mumbled. Tom sighed.

"You really are quite interesting. You should think over what you really want to do with yourself." Tom said and got up from the bed.

"Goodnight, _dear_." Tom said. He gave Harry a kiss on the cheek before disappearing into his bedroom. Harry looked after him with a blush on his cheeks.

* * *

Harry stared up at the ceiling as he thought over what Tom had said. What did he want to do with himself? He was happy working in the Magical Menagerie, he had always loved animals and magical creatures, but he could do better. He had the grades, he even had some contacts after his time in the pet shop. He didn't have to be content with working in Diagon Alley simply because he didn't want to become famous. He could specialize in one species, or in one field. He really enjoyed taking care of sick animals… Maybe he should become a veterinarian, as the Muggles called it? It was surely one idea to consider. Much better than becoming an Auror. Yes, the idea had some credit.

Content with his plan, Harry felt the day's exhaustion wash over him. Even if he had napped after his outburst that morning, he felt tired to his bones. He buried himself deeper in his covers and closed his eyes, ready to let sleep come over him. Harry moved his hand under the pillow to make sure his wand was safe when he felt the letters against his skin. He had completely pushed them out of his mind. They would have to wait until tomorrow… he was not in the emotional state needed to read them. If he could, he would likely ignored them for even longer, but something told him that Tom would force him to read them sooner or later.

Harry pushed away the thought. Tom couldn't force him to do anything. ...okay, Tom could likely manipulate him into doing something but that was not the same thing. Annoyed by his thoughts, Harry forced himself to think about something else.

When he finally fell asleep, it was to pleasant thoughts about a book he had wanted to read for a while, but hadn't been able to get his hands on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now you guys are on phase with what I've posted on ff.net.
> 
> My posting schedule on ff.net have been once a week, with the exception of this week, because some real life stuff and emotional reasons.  
> You guys can expect the same sporadic update once a week from now on. Usually, it's sometime between Wednesday and Sunday.
> 
> The next part is going to be Tom's POV! I'm going to start with his POV for stuff that already happened because I want to give his character more depth, and then after that I'm going to continue the plot. With that said, if there's anything you want to see from Tom's POV, this is the time to tell me.
> 
> You can also tell me if there's anything in general you want to see in the future of this fic.


	5. There is such a thing as obliviousness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you don't realize how oblivious Harry can be until you see things from Tom's point of view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can skip Tom's POV if you want to, and if you like being as oblivious as Harry. I haven't marked the POV change though, since it happens naturally with the flow of the story. It's hard to miss if you skim through.

Tom Marvolo Riddle saw himself as an extraordinary person, and didn't care much what other people thought. He never spoke of his late parents, both technically dead by his hand - one far more direct than the other. He had no need for family or friends. Tom liked to think of himself as a puppet master, or the player, pulling on strings and moving pieces as he saw it fit. He kept to the shadows of the political scene, since he prefered to have others do his will for him. To keep his puppets and pieces happy, he cut a string here, took out a piece there. With some bloodshed, he came far. It was all so horribly dull. He had made himself known in hope to spice things up, but after a few years, the Aurors were no closer to capture him than before. The only drawback was the lack of intelligent company, since his name and face was known by wizarding kind as the infamous Undesirable no. 1. He didn't see a change in the pattern any time soon. Then, Nagini became sick.

"My shadow viper is sick. Do you have any potions?"

Tom looked around the cluttered pet shop distastefully. He disliked being out in the open, and he didn't feel secure even if he had weaved a strong compulsion web before talking to the distracted pet shop worker. Had he only been able to pinpoint Nagini's sickness himself, he would never have come here. As it was, he was no professional healer, and his familiar deserved the best. Not that he thought the teenager behind the desk at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley could even come close to the _best_. Sadly, he had to try all safe options first. The teenager would be easy to get rid of if anything went wrong.

"Did you hear me?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow when he felt that the boy had stared long enough. He knew he had been recognized, but he was going to play it to his advantage. Otherwise, he could just have cast a glamour on himself. This had the chance of being far more entertaining than hiding his identity would be. For a paranoid person, he enjoyed plaiýing with faith too much.

"Loud and clear." the boy answered with an obviously fake smile. _Not much of an actor…_ Tom thought disinterested. He noticed that the boy straightened up, but it didn't make much difference in height.

"You need to bring your viper here for a check-over, or tell me which sickness it is, otherwise I can't get the correct potion for you."

He was tempted to roll his eyes. If he had known which sickness it was, he would already have said so. As it was, he would have to let the boy take a look at Nagini before he decided to find another option.

"I'll be back." Tom promised, and left.

* * *

He waited two days before showing up again, both to make sure that Nagini was ready for it, and to make sure that the Aurors weren't contacted. He trusted his compulsion web, but one could never be too sure. It would have been foolish of him to not take preventive steps, only because he had used magic. Too big trust in magic had been many great sorcerers downfall.

"That can't possibly be a shadow viper!" the boy exclaimed when Tom entered the shop, Nagini curled around his shoulders. He noted with amusement how the boy fumbled with a bag of rat treats.

"She is. Magic and good care can do a lot." Tom answered nonchalantly. It was true, though the magic was on the darker end of the spectrum. He watched as the boy got himself together and finally put away the rat treats.

"If you'll follow me into the backroom then, sir…"

He followed the boy into the room, which looked like a makeshift Healer room. Tom glanced around, and gave a snort when he saw the Muggle equipment. He hadn't expected to see anything Muggle, especially not in a pet shop. It was almost nice to meet someone else that didn't trust magic too much.

"What's her name then?" the boy asked and brought Tom back from his thoughts. He helped Nagini from his shoulders down on the table, as they boy's gesture had indicated that he should.

"Nagini." Tom answered fondly, as he took a step back from the table. Nagini followed him with her eyes before turning towards the boy that had come closer.

" _Hello Nagini. If you would be so kind to let me take some venom from you to test, I would appreciate it._ " the boy said. Tom blinked, the only outward sign of his surprise. A parselmouth? He had thought that he himself was the only one left in Britain.

" _Another speaker!_ " Nagini said, her surprise obvious. The boy looked up, first at Nagini and then at Tom.

" _Excuse me_?" the boy asked. Tom felt a predatory urge growing as he stared at the boy. An oblivious speaker capable of talking parseltongue without looking directly at a snake? _Impressive_.

"You speak parseltongue." Tom said, as if it was a mere statement and not an important discovery. He made sure to sound disbelieving yet fascinated, instead of showing his predatory side.

"Impossible. There's no parselmouths in the Potter line, and my mother is muggleborn." the boy protested. Tom wanted to grin. The boy had just revealed his last name and blood-status without a second thought. _A Potter and a half blood… makes finding information so much easier,_ Tom mused.

" _So you can't understand me?_ " he asked teasingly, and raised an eyebrow at the frowning boy.

" _I understand you perfectly._ "

Tom smiled, just a hint of his predatory feelings shining through. He had fresh prey, and the hunt was on. The boy had caught his interest.

"Then you're a parselmouth. How… _interesting_." Tom all but purred out the last word.

"If you say so…" the boy mumbled, and turned to Nagini.

Tom smirked to himself, before masking his emotions again. He kept his gaze on the boy as the boy moved around.

"You can go if you want." the boy offered, obviously unsettled if his body language was anything to go by. "This will take some time."

"I think I prefer to stay, if you don't mind." Tom answered sweetly. The boy grimaced.

"I don't." the boy answered. It was obviously a lie. Tom decided to let him work, and instead turned to Nagini.

" _I want him._ " Tom informed Nagini, after he had decided that the boy wasn't listening.

" _As your mate?_ " Nagini questioned, as she tasted the air to get a sense of the boy.

" _As prey._ " Tom corrected, as he gave the boy a once-over. " _To begin with._ " he added. Nagini's suggestion of taking the boy as his 'mate' did have some credit. Potter didn't look half-bad, and since the term had already started the boy had to be of age even if he was of a smaller build.

" _I approve._ " Nagini said. " _You'll give me beautiful grand-hatchlings._ "

Tom chuckled.  
" _I have to capture him first, Nagini._ " he said, as he had decided to humor her.

" _Will he heal me?_ " Nagini asked, already bored with their discussion.

" _Hopefully. Will you stay with him if he needs more time? I have business to take care of._ "

" _I will, if you believe it safe._ "

" _Don't worry, there's a strong compulsion web around him. He can't tell anyone anything._ " Tom reassured her.

" _Then I can stay with the hatchling._ " Nagini nodded her head. Tom gave her an amused smile.

" _Hatchling? Here I thought I was your hatchling…_ " he said.

" _I can have two, Tom._ " Nagini answered. " _You're too old to be my child._ "

Tom tisked.  
" _You should call me Master when speaking in front of another parselmouth._ "

Nagini gave a short, hissing laugh.  
" _As you want, hatchling._ "

Tom shook his head slightly at her actions.  
" _For that, you can stay with your new hatchling more than one night. I rather have him suffer your company than me._ "

" _As you want._ " Nagini repeated.

* * *

Tom apparated to Malfoy Manor directly from the pet shop. It had surprised him that there weren't any anti-apparition wards, but as the shop clearly doubled as a Healer office for pets, it could be understandable. It could likely save lives, since the alley itself had anti-apparition wards and it took time to walk from the Leaky Cauldron to the Magical Menagerie. It helped him too, although he prefered to enter from outside to make sure that the shop was empty from customers. He decided that he had given it enough thought when Lucius Malfoy entered the study that he had apparated into.

"Can I be of assistance or is this a pleasure visit?" Lucius asked, his mask as stoic as always.

"I find myself very interested in the Potters." Tom said, as he gracefully sat down in the armchair in front of Lucius' desk. "Especially, the youngest. Do tell me what you know, Lucius."

"If I may, I believe Draco can be of more assistance than me. He was in the same year as the Potter heir." Lucius answered as he sat down behind his desk. Tom inclined his head.

"Let me hear you first, then you can call your son here for the missing information." Tom decided.

"As you wish." Lucius answered. "I went to school with them. They started in my sixth year, but James Potter quickly made a name for himself together with his fellow Gryffindors - Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. I believe they called themselves the Marauders. A very obnoxious group. Severus often fell victim to their pranks. He was childhood friends with Lily Evans, and they were usually seen together. From what I understood, Potter was attracted to Evans already at the train. He sought Severus out since Severus was Evans' friend. I don't know everything that happened after I graduated, I didn't keep in touch with Severus, and had no interest in the other two."

"As much as your infatuation with Severus amuses me, it's not what I wanted to hear about." Tom drawled. "I do hope your son has more valuable information."

"My apologies, Marvolo." Lucius said softly, and inclined his head. With a snap of his fingers, a house-elf was called and ordered to get Draco for them.

Tom stretched out lazily in the armchair as they waited. He had met briefly with the younger Malfoy before, but they had yet to be formally introduced.

"May I offer you any refreshments?" Lucius inquired, using the facade of a proper host even if Tom had arrived unexpected. The offer was belated, but he decided to not put it against the man.

"A glass of wine wouldn't go amiss." Tom replied. He watched out of the corner of his eye how Lucius stood up and walked over to the liquor cabinet. "Elven, if you will." he added.

"Of course." Lucius answered with a short nod. Elven wine was rare, and extremely expensive. Tom liked to indulge when he could.

The door opened just as Tom took the wineglass from Lucius.

"You asked to see me, father?" Draco softly inquired. Tom looked at him through hooded eyes.

"Yes. Our guest has asked about Harry Potter. Anything you may know will be of help." Lucius said as he sat back down. Tom straightened slightly as the name of the Potter boy was revealed. _Harry? How ordinary..._

"Our guest?" Draco repeated, and glanced towards Tom for the first time. His mask faltered with recognition. Tom grinned.

"Yes, Marvolo Gaunt." Lucius said cooly. Draco gave Tom another weary glance before nodding in acceptance.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr Gaunt."

"I assure you, the pleasure is all mine." Tom said, a dark undertone to his words. "Now, what can you tell me about Harry Potter?"

"Depends…" Draco started awkwardly. "What do you want to know?"

Tom smiled darkly.  
" _Everything_."

* * *

_He's more trouble than he's worth…_ Tom mused as he delved around in Lily Potter's mind. He had to remove certain vital information that Harry had told her about Nagini's sickness. He took the moment to glance through her other memories of Harry, but there weren't many recent ones and he didn't have the time to linger. He could feel Harry's eyes on him. The boy was foolishly worrying about his mother most likely. Tom sighed mentally as he drew back. He had to alter his entrance, as much as her knowledge of it amused him. He made the change vague for entertainments sake. Too bad he wouldn't be there when she realized his intentions for her son.

He withdrew gently from her mind when he was finished. There was no need to upset Harry by hurting his mother further. Speaking of upsetting Harry… Tom shot a nonverbal stunner at the boy and watched how he fell with a predatory glint. It was not necessary by any means, but it would surely prove itself to be entertaining when the boy woke. He couldn't wait.

* * *

"Do I really have to be kidnapped? My family is going to be so worried about me, and I'm not in any danger at all…" Harry sighed.

Tom smirked inwardly. Harry had taken the kidnapping act remarkably well. It had definitely been entertaining when the boy lunged at him after waking up, and he found himself slightly disappointed by how well Harry handled it now. This was the perfcéct opportunity to play the boy.

"No danger at all? Are you sure?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow. He was almost tempted to chuckle darkly.

"I'll kick your ass before you have time to blink if you try anything." Harry promised. Tom laughed inwardly as he made himself pale at the supposed threat. Even if he believed Harry could be a worthy opponent, the boy was too young and inexperienced to play with him. It would only aid him further if Harry underestimated him.

"You can send them a letter if you want, so that they know that you're okay and that you'll be free when the potion is done." Tom offered. Best to make Harry see him in a positive light, even if he had no intentions of ever letting the boy go. Playing with prey was just too entertaining. His life had been decidedly less dull since he met Harry.

"That's… thank you." Harry answered with a weak smile. Tom marvelled at how sincere it was. He swallowed noticeably and looked away, as he smiled to himself. The best way to ensnare the boy would be through love, and he could certainly play the role of the lovesick fool until Harry would only want him.

"I have more to do in the potions lab." Tom excused himself, not at all ashamed as he seemingly fled.

* * *

It was 4 in the morning when Tom apparated into his apartment. He had sent Harry's letter hours ago when Harry was in the shower, as well as informed Lucius of his new duty as delivery owl. Of course, the service didn't come free. Lucius had sent him to dispose of Uprix. Tom had left as soon as he had made sure Harry was asleep, and was just now coming back home. His clothes were drenched in blood, but in his delirious high he couldn't care less. He hadn't had a real plan when he chose to apparate into the living room instead of his bedroom, but when he saw Harry lying defenseless on the transfigured bed, Tom congratulated himself on his choice. The boy looked simply delicious, and any lesser man would have taken advantage. Tom settled for sinking down on his knees next to the bed. He rested his head on Harry's chest and watched the boy as he slept. Nagini was curled next to the boy, likely enjoying his warmth. Tom lost himself in the feel of Harry's chest rising underneath his cheek, and the beauty of Harry's visage.

It would have been the perfect opportunity to take some of the boy's blood for a lineage ritual, but Tom brushed it off. Committing Harry to memory was far more interesting in his current mood. There would be opportunities to take blood later. Potion making was prone to accidents after all…

* * *

Tom quietly left his bedroom. He had been working on a new legislative proposal to give Lucius when he noticed the strange shadows coming from under the door. He had his wand in hand, wary about the source. His wards were intact, so it couldn't be that there was an intruder. What he saw made him stop and stare.

There was magic dancing around Harry's sleeping form. It was coming out of his chest and eyes- _no_ , it was _attacking_ the boy's chest and eyes. Tom took a step closer, his curiosity winning over his wariness for now. It was beautiful. The magic was a dark green, slightly too dark to be the shade of Harry's eyes. There were bursts of white sparks as it attacked. They boy slept, most likely not aware what his magic was doing. It was _enchanting_. The word had never fit the boy as good as it did right now.

He was absently aware that he had sunk down on his knees next to the bed in an abstract mirror of yesterday. Where he yesterday had been bloody, delirious and obsessed, he was now captured against his will. His mind raced with the possibilities, and he regretted not going through with the lineage ritual yet. He had thought that perhaps they had a common ancestor, but this show of magic… Was it attacking Harry's magical core? Why would it be attacking his eyes?

Tom stayed mesmerized by Harry's side until morning. He only became aware of the passed time as the magic died down and Harry started to wake up. He could leave, pretend that he hadn't stared at Harry's sleeping form for a third time, or he could stay. His curiosity won once more. He needed to know if there would be any change to Harry's eyes after the magic attack.

* * *

Harry woke up slowly. He was painfully aware of the eyes on him. It seemed as if Tom fully intended to make a habit out of watching him sleep. Perhaps he should start putting up a privacy ward before he went to bed… It was definitely worth a try. With the watchful eyes still on him, Harry sat up and stretched. He opened his eyes groggily, and then blinked. He hadn't fell asleep with his glasses on, had he? He touched his face lightly to check, but the comfortable feel of his glasses weren't there. What…? He glanced warily towards the Tom, and Tom looked back with clear fascination.

"What did you do?" Harry asked wearily.

"Why?" Tom asked, not even attempting to hide his curiosity. "Is anything different?"

"Yes!" Harry glowered. "I can _see_!"

Tom glanced towards the glasses on the floor. He breathed out in silent astonishment as he seemingly connected the dots.

"Amazing…" he whispered to himself. Harry's glare grew in intensity. He didn't understand what was so amazing. If Tom had done something, shouldn't the man already know what he did? Or… had Tom not done anything? Why would his vision suddenly be perfect overnight? For once, magic didn't seem an acceptable answer.

"I'm going to sleep, I would appreciate it greatly if you don't disturb me." Tom announced and got up gracefully from the floor. Harry stared after him.

* * *

A few hours later Harry could be found next to Tom's bed. He sat in the same armchair that Tom had been sat in when he first woke up after being kidnapped. He had spent the morning marvelling over his fixed sight, before giving in to his inquisitiveness. Since Tom devoted so much time to watching as Harry slept, there had to be something fascinating to it, right?

Currently, he was disappointed. There was a certain amazement to being able to watch the likely paranoid murderer sleep, but he also felt vaguely insulted that Tom could sleep soundly even with his presence. He had been under the wrong impression that Tom understood that Harry could be a threat. Giving in to his childish feelings, Harry shot an _aguamenti_ at Tom's face to wake him up. The man got to sleep for at least a few hours without getting disturbed after all, and Harry found it hard to focus on the potion without Tom to discuss ideas with. As great conversationalist Nagini was, she didn't know much about potions.

Tom sat up straight and glared at Harry. If looks could kill, Harry would have been dead at least three times over.

" _Child._ " Tom hissed. Harry shrugged off the insult. It was better than being called endearments.

"I let you sleep undisturbed. You said nothing about waking you up." Harry answered as he rose from the chair. He levelled Tom with one last glance, absently tracking the waterdrops running from his hair, down his chin, his neck, over his collarbones… Harry abruptly straightened his head, to see Tom smiling knowingly at him.

"Like what you see, _child_?"

"You're gonna catch a cold." Harry answered, and walked over to the door. "Don't call me child." he added under his breath. He was sure Tom heard him if the low laughter was anything to go by.

"As you wish, _dear_."

Harry slammed the door behind him.

* * *

"Have you calmed down?" Tom inquired from where he was looking over Harry's shoulder. Harry stubbornly ignored him to calculate the proper amount of chizpurfle carapace needed. Since the ingredient was mainly used in the antidote for uncommon poisons, he needed to make sure it would interact with Nagini's soul and not her venom. Too much could have catastrophic results while too little would likely upset the potion.

"You wrote the wrong number." Tom interrupted, after he had spent a moment just hovering. Harry paused to read through his calculations. He quickly found the problem and corrected it.

"Thanks." Harry mumbled, without looking at Tom.

"You're welcome, _darling_." Tom answered, his breath hot against Harry's skin. Harry shivered.

"Don't you have anything else to do?" Harry murmured.

"How's your eyes?" Tom asked, ignoring Harry's question. "Your vision is not acting up?"

"No… it's perfect." Harry answered. He turned his head slightly to the side, just enough to be able to watch Tom. "Assuming that you're not the one that fixed it, why do you think my vision corrected itself?"

Tom hummed.  
"Magic."

"Bullshit." Harry answered, and looked down at his calculations again.

"Believe what you want, _child_." Tom said lightly. Harry felt how Tom's hand gripped his neck before stroking down his back. The hand lingered before Tom moved away from him.

"As it happens, I do have something to do. Don't overwork yourself, _dearest_." Tom said, as he disappeared into his bedroom.

* * *

When he saw Tom again hours later, the man was looking at him with a new light in his eyes. It was almost obsessively. Harry chose to pretend that he didn't see it, but he could feel Tom's eyes linger just as the hand had done earlier. He didn't know how to feel. On one hand, he hated the attention, but on the other… this was the first time someone had eyes for him, and only him. Harry felt treasured, and he hated it.

The worst part was that he felt himself getting just as obsessed with Tom. It was hard not to, when he wanted to - _needed_ to - figure the man out. There was something more than aesthetic attraction, and Harry couldn't figure out what. He buried himself in working on the potion, but it backfired quite spectacularly since he worked better when Tom helped. To make matters worse, he was _stuck_ in the small apartment, and Tom didn't seem to leave as long as he was awake. He could talk to Nagini, and he did appreciate her greatly, but she seemed to believe that he belonged there, _with_ Tom. Harry reluctantly agreed to some of what Nagini said, but he couldn't agree that he belonged with Tom. Not unless he could figure the man out, a task that seemed harder than inventing the potion. He would make himself insane if he continued thinking in circles like this.

A hand curling around his shoulder startled Harry out of his thoughts. He blinked sheepishly up at Tom.

"I told you to not overwork yourself." Tom sighed. It almost sounded as if the man was fond of him. " _Child_."

Harry bristled at the term.  
"I told you to not call me that."

"Yet you insist on acting childishly." Tom sighed once more, the fondness more heavily implied this time. Harry didn't trust it, and less so when Tom ran his fingers through Harry's hair. He suspected that Tom was playing games with him, and he needed to even out the playing field if that was the case. Sadly, he was at a loss for where to start. Tom had too great of an advantage already.

"My behaviour is only matching yours." Harry answered.

Tom laughed.  
"Your years too early to play my game, _child_."

"So you admit that there is a game." Harry countered.

"Yes, and I'm _winning_." Tom answered with a dark smile. Harry bit his lip to not reply anything that he would regret.

"Have you eaten anything today, _dearest_?" Tom asked, changing the topic.

"No." Harry admitted. "I doubt you have any food though."

Tom tisked.  
"You need to take care of yourself, _child_. I'll cook us something. You, rest."

It was obviously an order. Harry found himself obeying it.

* * *

Harry stared at the letter he held in his hands. The other laid beside him. He _had_ been resting - for about five minutes - before he remembered the cursed letters under his pillow. He needed to read at least one of them, hence the letter he was holding in his hands. He had chosen the lesser of two evils, that is to say, the letter from professor Snape. Harry took a deep breath to calm himself and opened it.

_You foolish boy,_  
_you should have informed someone when Riddle first came to the Menagerie.  
_ _Don't come with any weak excuses, if you can break the Imperio, you can break a compulsion web - which is the only acceptable reason I can come up with as to why you didn't tell anyone._

_Unfortunately, I harbor some feelings of concern for you, and because of that I'm offering my help.  
_ _I expect you to send me a copy of the recipe, and your notes that concern it. Now._

_Reply to your mother._

_Regards,  
_ _Severus Snape_

He laughed. He couldn't help it. The letter was just… so _Snape_. He couldn't believe he had been afraid of reading it.

"I told you to rest, _child_." Tom called from the kitchen. Harry glanced at him.

"I am! You also told me to read my letters."

"That was yesterday. Today, you rest." Tom replied. Harry heard him muttering something about 'not even obeying for five minutes'. He gave the letter from professor Snape a last glance, before stuffing both letters back under his pillow. As he laid down on his bed, he came to think about something.

"Do you own socks?" Harry wondered out loud. He hadn't gotten any to wear yesterday, and he hadn't been able to find any today when he ventured into Tom's bedroom for clean clothes.

" _Rest_!" Tom repeated, exasperated. "I don't own socks, they're constricting to wear and shoes are protective enough when spending time outside."

"Did you wear shoes at Hogwarts?"

" _Yes, you silly child._ " Tom answered. "The castle was cold during the winters."

"What about the summers?"

"The dungeons were cold during the summers as well, and you needed to wear shoes during herbology."

"The common room wasn't cold though, was it?"

"I was usually barefoot in the common room. Are you happy now?"

"You could have used a heating charm instead of wearing shoes." Harry suggested.

"I did, sometimes. Shoes happen to be protective in more ways than one. Now, I'm done with you. _Be quiet_. I'll tell you when the food is done."

Harry hummed as an answer, and closed his eyes to take a nap.

* * *

He woke up to the feeling of fingers in his hair.

"I wouldn't mind that you're somehow always there when I wake up if you played with my hair every time." Harry mumbled as he nuzzled his head against Tom's hand.

"If you sleep in my bed, I'll play with your hair both as you fall asleep and as you wake up." Tom offered.

"Tempting, but no. I rather like sleeping with Nagini." Harry said. Tom started to withdrew his fingers and Harry whined.

"Not quite awake yet, are you?" Tom teased, but went back to playing with his hair.

"You're the one that told me to rest." Harry mumbled. He opened one eye to look up at Tom. "Is the food done?"

"It's under a stasis charm. I've been trying to wake you up for at least twenty minutes."

"Playing with my hair is not the same as trying to wake me up." Harry answered, as he opened his other eye too. Tom shrugged instead of giving a response.

"You wouldn't approve if I kissed you awake."

"I wouldn't approve if you kissed me at all."

"I promise that it would be better than your mistletoe kiss."

"More playing with my hair, less talking." Harry mumbled as he shut his eyes again.

" _Child_." Tom sighed fondly, but obeyed.

* * *

Harry reluctantly opened his eyes again a few minutes later. He was pretty hungry after going the whole day without eating…

"You promised food." he mumbled, and sat up. Tom's fingers fell out of his hair.

"It's on the table." Tom answered and got up from the bed. Harry stretched before following. Tom had lifted the stasis charm from their plates by the time Harry sat down at the table.

"You can't have cooked this with the food you had." Harry commented as he took his fork.

"Lucius has a house-elf come with food every couple of weeks,"

"How would you live without Lucius?"

"There's always people willing to help for the right price." Tom answered with a smirk.

"How are you able to be so dependent on others?" Harry questioned.

"By making them depend on me."

"You're a clever bastard." Harry said, as he put a fork full of food of his mouth. "This is delicious." he added after he had swallowed.

"Thanks." Tom answered. Harry wasn't sure what he said thanks to. The rest of the meal passed in silence.

* * *

Harry washed up after them the Muggle way. He could have used magic, but it gave him time to think when he did it for hand. Tom was working on something in his bedroom, again. Harry hadn't bothered to ask what. He wasn't sure he would get an answer even if he did.

" _You smell different, hatchling._ "

He turned his head slightly to see Nagini on the floor. She was flicking her tongue at him.

" _You're not confused by the washing-up liquid_?"

" _You insult me, hatchling. I can distinguish your smell from the bubbles._ "

" _Apologies, Nagini. I don't know why I would smell different_."

" _Perhaps for the same reason you're not wearing the circular glass frames_." she suggested.

" _Tom said that was because of magic_."

" _Your smell reminds me of a snake_." Nagini answered, and slithered towards the bathroom.

Harry shook his head slightly. Why would he smell as a snake? If he did, it was surely her fault for sleeping in his bed. Disregarding it, he went back to doing the dishes.

* * *

"Could I borrow a book?"

Harry was standing in the doorway to Tom's bedroom, as he cautiously looked in. He hoped he wasn't disturbing, but he was utterly bored and there wasn't much else to do. Draw perhaps, or copy his notes for professor Snape, or read the letter from his mother… but a book would be the best escape.

"Go ahead." Tom answered and waved a dismissive hand towards the bookshelf.

"Thanks." Harry mumbled and walked over to the book-filled shelves. He didn't have high hopes for any fiction, but even theory would be to prefer over his other options. He had definitely not expected any Muggle books, and was therefore pleasantly surprised as he read through the titles.

"Breakfast on Pluto..." he said to himself in surprise, and picked the book from the shelf. Not only was the book published only last year, he would never have expected Tom to have read it, even less own it. The only reason he recognized it was because Hermione had mentioned it in one of her monthly letters. It would certainly prove an interesting read. Harry was about to leave Tom's bedroom with the book when a hand on his arm stopped him.

"You could read in here." Tom suggested, and nodded towards the armchair. "Company is better than solitary, is it not?"

Harry hesitated.

"I guess…" he answered slowly, and glanced towards the armchair. It did look comfortable… "At least for a while."

Tom smiled at him and let go of his arm. Harry glanced at the papers on Tom's desk, before he walked over to the armchair. He made himself comfortable and opened up the book.

_Chapter One: Merry Christmas, Mrs Whiskers_

_It was a beautiful crisp Christmas morning. All across the little village which lay nestled on the southern side of the Irish border, one could sense an air of tense but pleasurable expectancy. Already the small birdies, as if conscious of the coming mood of celebration and acceptable self-indulgence which was so much a part of the much-loved season, had begun their carefully co-ordinated invasions, their industrious beaks like so many arrowheads stiletto-jabbing the frosted gold-tops of the early-morning milk bottles. Even at this early hour, there are one or two children playing - cork guns being proudly displayed and nurses' uniforms flaunted in so many mix-like parades. In places, the snow has begun to melt but this is still…._

Harry was soon fully immersed in the book, unaware of Tom's eyes that rested on him. For a moment, everything was quiet. Their breathing filled the room, the sound of it seeming bigger than it was in the lack of any other noise. It only gave room for the sound of turned pages once every few minutes.

Tom's chair scraped against the floor, and Harry was about to look up from the book when his ears caught the end of the incantation for bewitched sleep. He barely had time to blink before the spell hit him in the chest. Harry fell back against the armchair, deeply asleep. The book slipped from his lap and fell to the floor with a low thump.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never read or seen Breakfast on Pluto. I honestly just searched for books published in 1999, found it (although it was published in 1998), and decided that I would like to read it. I just found the thought of Tom owning it funny. I copied the bit from the first chapter from Google Books.
> 
> I trust that someone tells me if my characterizations stops making sense, I'm not sure if I'm able to be consistent. I rarely look at what I've already written when I write new parts.
> 
> The plot is slowly moving forward! Is anyone able to find all the clues?
> 
> Also, I personally think the socks conversation was very important. I mean, Voldemort never wore socks, so what about Tom? Definitely a real plot point.  
> ...or not.
> 
> I feel like the re-occuring theme in this is;  
> -sleeping, and being stared at while sleeping  
> -the strange eggs that we don't ask about (and that weren't mentioned in this chapter)
> 
> Just maybe this has been about breakfast all along. (okay sorry, that was bad, I shouldn't make jokes)


	6. They do say that laughter is the best medicine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you wish that you never woke up. Well, at least if you're Harry Potter.

The past week felt unreal. Harry had a hard time remembering what had happened, and what hadn’t. He had lapses in his memory, and what he could remember had a certain dreamlike quality to it. He wasn’t convinced that the past week had happened. He tried to convince himself that it had, but he had seemingly been asleep for most of it. Harry scoffed at himself when he had that thought. Why would he had been asleep all the time without a reason? He could clearly remember that he managed to do some things, so it must had been real.

He could clearly remember waking up in Tom’s bedroom for the second time.

_Harry blinked a couple of times before he finally opened his eyes. It took him a while to orientate himself - he was not used to falling asleep in a sitting position and it took him a moment to recognize that he wasn’t on the transfigured bed in the open area where he usually slept. His neck cracked as he moved it, stiff after it had been in an uncomfortable position the whole night. He slowly connected the dots as he realized he was sitting on the armchair in Tom’s bedroom. The book he could feel next to his foot confirmed it - he must have fell asleep while reading. Oddly, he could only remember the beginning of the book._

_As per usual, he noticed Tom staring at him when he came back to his senses. For once, there was actual space between them as Tom was sat by his desk._

_“Sorry for intruding. You could have waken me.” Harry said and picked up the book from his feet. He skimmed through it, but found himself recognizing nothing past the first page. Had he really been so tired that he couldn’t read more? It was hard to believe, the writing itself had been good, and books were usually slow to get into. He couldn’t make the pieces fit when he tried to puzzle them together, but decided to shrug it off. He could simply had been tired._

_“And willingly missed a chance on seeing your pretty face when I woke up? I think not, darling.” Tom answered._

_“If you miss me so much, perhaps I should sleep in your bed next time. Saves my neck, if nothing else.” Harry answered._

He frowned at the memory. Why would he have said that? It felt out of character. Perhaps he was mistaken, and the memory was actually a dream… but he could still not remember more than the first page of the book, even if he had other memories where he was clearly reading it. Harry bit his lip, a sign that he felt troubled. Why would he not remember the plot of _Breakfast on Pluto_? He couldn’t even name a character from it when he tried!

Harry flinched as his teeth broke skin. Had his teeth been this sharp before? He absentmindedly licked up the blood. Somehow, the supposedly metallic tang tasted sweet. He swiped his tongue over his lip again, but it felt as soft as it had done before the skin broke. Had magic already healed it? How odd. The puzzle only seemed to grow bigger, and he had barely collected any pieces yet. Harry shook his head slightly as he tried to collect himself. What more had he done this past week?

He had copied his potion notes and written professor Snape a short apologetic message for the delay, while Tom had hovered nearby.

_“You do understand that you can’t inform Severus what the potion is for?” Tom asked, while handing Harry a piece of parchment with calculations that had fallen on the floor._

_“Professor Snape is a brilliant potions master, I’m sure he can make a potion from the notes if needed. He has forced his assistance on me, Tom, I need to send him the notes. I’m fairly sure he’ll find out where you live only to copy them himself otherwise.” Harry answered, as he put aside the duplicates to not copy anything twice by mistake._

_“I don’t think he would be able to get that far, especially not if he asks Lucius to assist him.”_

_Harry gave Tom an odd look, but chose to not answer._ _  
_ _“Do you not have anything better to do than hovering nearby?” he asked instead._

_“I could embrace you from behind and look over your shoulder, but I don’t think you would appreciate it as much as I would.” Tom teased._

_“Hand me those notes about lacewing flies instead. I really need to figure out an exact amount needed of those…”_

_“Leave it to Severus. You said it yourself, he’s a potions master.”_

_“Yet it was_ **_me_ ** _that you kidnapped, Tom.”_

His frown deepened. Had he called Tom by name to his face before? He knew that he used the name when he talked with Nagini - and that was another oddity, he could not remember any real conversations with Nagini - but he rarely referred to Tom at all when they spoke. He had called the man for bastard once or twice, but he refrained from actually using Tom’s name. Why would he suddenly have done it twice?

There were too many oddities, and he had the nagging feeling that he never did get the proper amount of lacewing flies needed for the potion. Now that he was thinking about it, he couldn’t remember properly working on the potion at all… What was happening to him? Had he fallen sick? Perhaps his memories were actually fever dreams. It could explain why he felt as if he had spent most of the past week in bed. The question was only how he had gotten sick in the first place.

Harry bit his lip again as a thought hit him, and thankfully the skin didn’t break this time. _Whose bed had he slept in?_ He had woken up in Tom’s bed this morning, and was actually still in it as he had chosen to mull over the past week instead of going up. He only knew that it was Tom’s bed because it was much softer than his transfigured bed could ever be. How he had ended up sharing a bed with Tom though was still a mystery to him. The most logical course of action would be to make a show of waking up and asking the man, but Harry wasn’t completely sure he wasn’t still dreaming. The feeling of not actually being awake clung to him like a second skin. His magic seemed to do too, now that he thought about it. That could explain why his magic had healed his lip within seconds… but he was getting off track. The question had been when - and _how_ \- he had ended up in Tom’s bed. Harry’s nose scrunched up as he searched through his memories.

Nagini had been involved, he remembered suddenly.

_Harry woke up from the sudden cold. His nerve system was sending a dull pain through his body, and it took his sleepy mind a moment to realize that it was because he had fell down on the floor. Tom was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, looking down on him with obvious amusement. Harry glowered at him before turning to his bed. Nagini’s head was looking down on him from under a blanket._

_“_ Did I push you, hatchling? _” Nagini asked, feigning innocence._

_“_ You bloody know that you did! _” Harry answered, and stood up. He had no desire to lie on the floor. “_ I don’t get why though… _” he added, and shot Tom a dirty glance. It wouldn’t surprise him if the man was at fault._

_“My guess is that the bed wasn’t big enough.” Tom said. “My bed on the other hand…”_

_Harry grabbed his blanket off Nagini as well as his pillow, before shouldering past Tom into the bedroom._

_“Only this once, you hear me!” he called over his shoulder. Tom chuckled from behind him._

Harry’s frown turned into a slight grimace. He had shared bed with Nagini without problem before that - and she usually slept _on_ him anyway, so it seemed unrealistic that he had been pushed out of bed. It seemed even more unrealistic that he chose to share bed with Tom instead of getting back into his own bed. If he didn’t know better, he wouldn’t hesitate to declare the memory false - but it couldn’t be. He had no other reason as to why he had started to sleep in Tom’s bed.

Another question came into his mind before he could think too much about it. Had he read the letter from his mother yet? He had procrastinated on opening it for a few days, but surely he had read it during the past week… It hadn’t been under his pillow when he had got pushed out of bed, so he must have read it before then. Harry scrunched up his nose as he searched through his memories. Before the bed incident but after he copied his notes for professor Snape… ah.

_He sat down on his bed, as he had done a few days earlier when he read the letter from professor Snape. He felt guilty, knowing that his mother must be anxiously waiting for a response and he hadn’t as much as opened the letter yet because of his torn feelings regarding his parents. The harsh truth was that they were more likely to go to Dumbledore if he_ **_didn’t_ ** _write them. At this point, he would likely only have himself to blame if his old Headmaster got involved in his alluded kidnapping. With a determined sigh, Harry opened the letter._

My Harry,  
I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you. I should have acted the moment that I recognized Riddle. If I did, perhaps you would still be with me.

You shouldn’t blame yourself. You care too much, sweetheart, and you should be proud of it. I trust that you would have told us about Riddle if you believed him to be a danger to you, but you didn’t so I can only assume that he means you no harm.

I know you wrote that you don’t believe you’ll be able to write more letters, but I sincerely hope that you do. I’m worried about you, and I don’t want you to be stuck with _him_. We’ll save you, even if you insist that there’s no need for it. You might find it insulting that we don’t believe you, but there’s nothing as strong as a mother’s love for her child. I need to know that you’re safe, and I won’t until I can see it for myself.

Take care, and remember that I love you. I hope to see you again soon.

Much love,  
mum

_It was incomprehensive to him as to why, but Harry found himself crying. He was about to brush the tears away when he felt someone doing it for him. Harry looked up to see Tom hovering over him. Harry blinked a few times, confused as to why Tom seemed to care. He had a moment where nothing seemed to make sense anymore, before he slapped Tom’s hand away and stood up from the bed. The letter from his mother was clutched in one hand._

_“You saw nothing.” Harry said calmly._

_“If you insist,_ **_my dear_** _.” Tom answered with a smile. Harry gave him one last look before he walked away to fetch some parchment. He had a reply he needed to write…_

He immediately disliked that Tom had seen him so vulnerable. It wasn’t often that he did cry, and he couldn’t believe that Tom had seen him do it. The man just had to _always_ be there! It was frustrating - and odd. Now that he thought about it, Tom had been there during all the moments that he could remember from the past week… and he couldn’t remember much at all… It was rather suspicious.

Lying in bed and trying to reminiscence was getting him nowhere though. With a sigh, Harry finally opened his eyes, only to see Tom’s face hovering above his. He begrudgingly admitted that he was proud of himself for not making a sound in surprise at their close proximity.

“Your range of facial expressions are quite impressive, _dearest_. What I’m curious about, is the cause for them.” Tom all but purred.

“I remembered a dream.” Harry answered, and pushed Tom away so that he could sit up. His eyes locked onto his hand - which was still resting on Tom’s shoulder - and Harry froze. There was a ring on his left ring finger that had definitely not been there before.

With this realization, he was suddenly overwhelmed with the difference in sensations. He had absentmindedly been aware that his teeth seemed sharper and that his magic was buzzing under his skin, but as he moved his head he could feel how his hair was not only longer but also heavier. It didn’t feel like the curly mess that he was used to. Harry gave Tom one last glare, before he hurried to the bathroom. He felt as if he was in extreme need of a mirror. He knew that Tom followed him, but as he entered the bathroom and stopped in front of the mirror, Harry forgot all about it.

The first thing that he noticed was his eyes. They were unnaturally green as usual - he was as always eerily reminded of the killing curse - but they seemed to _glow_ . It contrasted rather well with his dark skin, but it should be impossible. As he turned his head in different directions to see if his eyes really gave a green light of their own, he realized why his hair ha felt different. Instead of an afro, he had _dreads_. Harry carefully pulled on one. They were about as thick as his thumb, if he had to hazard a guess. It would take some getting used to… he could try to undo them, but he had a nagging feeling that he wouldn’t be able to. Harry pulled on the dread one last time before taking a closer look at his mirror image. At first he had thought it was the light, but his skin was definitely a shade darker than usual. He opened his mouth slightly, and got a confirmation that his teeth was sharper. Harry carefully ran his tongue over the sharp incisors. They stood out against the other changes, as they made him more dangerous. The other rather seemed to enhance his looks. Harry closed his mouth again and leaned closer to the mirror. It could be his imagination, but his cheekbones seemed not only more pronounced, but also higher… and his neck seemed somewhat slimmer and longer. For a second, he was reminded of his aunt Petunia, and grimaced. He ran his fingers over his neck in a examining manner, and prodded at it with his fingers a few times. The skin felt thicker, and he was eerily reminded of petting Nagini. The only thing missing was actual scales.

“You weren’t joking when you said that magic healed my eyes.” Harry breathed, as he leant back from the mirror. He chose to continue to study himself instead of looking towards Tom. He wasn’t vain, but he looked absolutely stunning. It was hard to believe that it was himself that he was seeing in the mirror.

“I find it rather hard to believe that this happened over night.” he then continued, and turned to look at Tom.

“I don’t know what to tell you.” Tom answered while giving him a slow once-over. “You know that you didn’t look like this yesterday.”

“It’s too many changes, and in a too short amount of time.” Harry continued slowly. He felt a sudden distrust when it came to Tom. He wasn’t sure what had happened the past week, and before he had all the facts, he would stay guarded.

“You’re overthinking, _dear_. It’s magic.” Tom said, and finally met his eyes.

“You’re obviously appreciating the changes.” Harry commented and looked back towards the mirror.

“I would appreciate you no matter what you looked like.” Tom drawled. Harry glanced at him, and before he could fully comprehend it his magic pushed Tom out of the bathroom and closed the door. Harry blinked.

“That was uncalled for!” Tom said from the other side of the now closed door. Harry blinked again. He knew his magic was buzzing under his skin, but that it would act without him seemingly controlling it… He had had perfect control over it this past week, if his memories were to trust. That was the crux though, wasn’t it? His memories were _not_ to trust.

He flicked his wrist towards the door to see if he could lock it wandlessly and nonverbally. For a moment, he thought it had worked, before the lock exploded. Harry blinked dumbly at it as Tom pushed the door open.

“Are you okay?” Tom asked, his tone worried. Harry shook his head slightly, eyes still on the exploded lock.

“I don’t think I’m okay at all.” Harry said slowly.  
“I feel strange, and I look strange, and this past week have been strange.” he began, and turned his eyes towards the man at last. “ _Tom, what did you do_?”

He had a fleeting thought that this was the first time that he consciously called Tom by name, before his mind snapped onto the fact that the man in question was coming closer. Harry tensed as he waited. His eyes locked onto Tom’s raised hand, and watched as it moved towards his shoulder. His eyes flicked back to Tom when Tom’s hand gripped his shoulder tightly.

“I don’t know.” Tom confessed quietly. “I saw your magic when it fixed your eyes, Harry. It was _attacking_ . Not only your eyes, but also your _core_ . I wanted to help it, I wanted to unbound your core. I put you to sleep, and I experimented to _help_. I don’t know the consequences of my actions. I don’t know if this is a sign that I succeeded.”

“And my memories?” Harry breathed.

“False. I didn’t think... I thought they would be enough, that you wouldn’t question anything. I thought I knew you well enough by now to do it, but I don’t. You’re an _enigma_.” Tom answered, his excitement rising.

“And what are you not telling me?” Harry questioned, his eyes glowing stronger. Tom paused for a moment. It wouldn’t have been noticeable if Harry hadn’t been looking intently at him.

“According to a lineage ritual, you’re a Dark Creature.”

“Impossible, my father isn’t, and my mother can’t be-” Harry started.

“Your core was _bound_. It’s likely that your father’s core is as well.”

“But why would anyone bind our cores? And _who_?” Harry asked, incomprehending.

“I have my suspicions, but in case that I’m wrong, I’ll wait before sharing them.” Tom answered carefully. Harry looked at him searchingly before nodding.

“What kind of creature am I?” Harry asked instead, changing the subject.

“Have you ever heard of Echidna?”

“Echidna? As in singular?”

“Yes. I thought it was a myth, but you’re obvious proof… Harry, Echidna was the mother of all monsters. The mother of all Dark Creatures. Your power is amazing. There can only ever be one Echidna at the time, so I suspect you’re a direct descendant. It’s from your grandmother - Euphemia Potter - according to the ritual. I don’t know anything about her, but perhaps you should ask your father what he knows.” Tom said, his excitement high once more. Harry spent a long moment looking at him and considering his words.

“The Potters are a known light family…” he mused. “Does Echidna have anything to do with snakes?” he then asked.

“Ah… Echidna was half-snake, half-woman… I don’t know how she looked, I couldn’t find much about her.” Tom admitted. Harry nodded shortly.

 

“I wonder if I’ll be able to go back to my family when my core is fully unbound… oh well. My memories were false, you said?” Harry asked, changing the subject once again. Tom nodded carefully, guarded if his eyes were anything to go by.

“The letter from my mother… did you open it?” Harry wondered.

“I had to, to be able to include the memory.”

“Ah… and was there any reason as to why I was in your bed? The memory with Nagini was far from convincing, I do believe it was what gave you away the most.”

“I enjoy having you close.” Tom answered, unashamed. “I’m attracted to you, and some day you’ll have to admit that you’re attracted to me.”

Harry gave a short laugh.  
“In your dreams. Now, if you excuse me, I haven’t showered in a week, and I have a potion I need to be working on, not to mention a letter I need to respond to. I sincerely hope that you sent professor Snape copies of our notes.”

“I did. I have a letter from him, as well as a letter from an unknown sender. Actually, the owl is here as well… which should have been impossible…”

“Must be Hedwig.” Harry answered with a fond smile. “It does not surprise me that someone remembered that she’s always able to find me. I wonder who did it though…”

“Likely the sender of the letter.” Tom drawled. Harry shot him a dirty glance.

“What are you still doing here? I said that I’m going to shower.”

Tom backed out of the bathroom when Harry’s magic started to make the air thicker. The door repaired itself, closed itself and locked itself after Tom had walked over the threshold. Harry considered it for a moment before he stepped into the shower, not bothering to undress. He spared a moment to hope that Tom had simply transfigured his clothes into a pair of pyjama pants instead of undressing him, but he didn’t pay it much mind.

The water turned on as if by itself. Harry’s magic was dancing on his skin, reflecting a vibrant green sheen. Just slightly darker than the killing curse, it was as if he was bathing in death. The warm water sprayed across his skin, and Harry gave an involuntary hiss of pleasure. For a long, quiet moment everything was pure bliss. Then his magic gave out white sparks as it started attacking his core and he felt the pyjama pants plastered against his legs when he moved in surprise. His chest was a firework show and he was taking a shower while dressed. Something broke inside him and Harry started laughing.

He found himself on the floor of the shower, his body shaking from laughter and his skin pleasantly buzzing from both his magic and the warm water that was still spraying down on him. He had perhaps been awake only for a couple of hours, after _a week_ of bewitched sleep. His body and his magic had changed without his knowledge, without his _consent_. He felt violated, both by Tom and whoever had bound him in the first place. This was not what he had expected from life. He had been _normal_. He would never be normal again, and it was all Tom’s fault. Had Tom never brought Nagini to the Magical Menagerie, Harry would never had realized that he was a parselmouth, and Tom would never have been interested in him, and he would never known that his magic had been bound for _years_. He would have been normal. He wouldn’t have been happy, he wasn’t happy, but he would have been _normal_. His laughing fit rose in pitch. Once again, he reminded himself of aunt Petunia. How _stupid_. He loved magic, and his magic seemed to love him. Hadn’t Tom said that his magic fixed his vision by itself? What was there to say that this wouldn’t have happened even if he never met Tom? Of course, it would likely had taken a lot longer for his magic without Tom’s… _help_. Perhaps this was for the best. The slow changes without explanation would likely had driven him crazy. Not to say that Harry didn’t feel fairly crazy already… but more crazy.

He could hear Tom through the bathroom door, but the sound of his own laughter and of the shower was drowning the man’s words. They couldn’t be important anyway. Nothing seemed really important right now. Not only was the past week a lie, his life was a lie. It must have been the greatest joke ever. He surely hoped Fate found it amusing. He definitely did. Harry was dimly aware that Tom stopped yelling, and that there was a bang. Was it the bathroom door again? Poor door… it was so unlucky today. Like him. Harry started to laugh again as he likened himself to the bathroom door. A strong pair of arms lifted him out from the shower, and he shivered at the loss of warmth. His magic had one last spike before it calmed itself and soaked into his skin again.

The arms belonged to a warm body and Harry nuzzled against it. He absently registered that the body must be Tom, as they were the only ones in the apartment. Well, except for Nagini and apparently Hedwig, but neither had _arms_ . At least, he didn’t think so… they could have of course. Invisible perhaps. Harry giggled at the thought, and then he continued giggling because it seemed better than laughter, and everything was still so funny. He nuzzled against Tom again as his body shook from his giggles. He could hear Tom saying something, and he recognized some of the words - like _child_ and _mental breakdown_ and _not worth it_ but he couldn’t puzzle any of them together to actually mean something.

An owl hooted in the background. Harry smiled fondly, his giggles dying down. He had missed Hedwig. It was so nice to hear her again… Harry hooted back, and started giggling again. It sounded funny. He felt how Tom sighed exasperatedly, but Harry didn’t care to stop giggling now that he had started again. He hooted at Hedwig in between giggles, please to hear that she hooted back at him. It made him sad that he couldn’t understand her, but it was fun nonetheless. Too bad he wasn’t a… what would it even be called? Hootmouth? Why was the snake-language called parsel? Was parsel even a word? Did it have anything to do with parcels? A snake carrying parcels… that would have been funny… maybe he could ask Nagini? He was getting off track though.

Harry opened his eyes, even if he wasn’t aware that he had closed them in the first place, to look up at Tom.

“Why is the snake-language called parsel?” he asked, as seriously as he could possibly muster in his current state of mind.

“I’d tell you if I knew, _child_.” Tom promised. “You should sleep. I don’t think bewitched sleep is good for the brain after long periods of time… I wonder if there’s any research on this…”

“You sleep with me.” Harry demanded, feeling very much like a small child. Tom was warm and felt safe, so he wanted Tom to sleep with him. He was still mad at Tom, but it wasn’t very important right now, and he couldn’t remember why he was mad at Tom so it was even less important. Especially since he was exhausted after laughing so much and sleep started to sound like a really good idea.

“That’s not at all how I imagined you saying those words.” Tom said with a small laugh as he put Harry down on a bed. Harry wasn’t sure which bed, but it didn’t matter.

“You sleep with me.” Harry repeated when he realized that Tom had never said yes.

“I’ll sleep with you.” Tom promised and ran his fingers through Harry’s hair affectionately. It didn’t work as well with the dreads and Harry frowned. Tom wouldn’t be able to play with his hair anymore.

“You’re not sleeping.” he pointed out childishly.

“Neither are you.” Tom answered, and lied down on the bed next to him. Harry was quick to nuzzle against Tom again. He absently realized that he was dry, but he couldn’t remember getting dry. Either he hadn’t listened when Tom casted a drying spell, or his own magic had decided to help. It wasn’t important, but he found himself thinking about a lot of things that was far from important. It was easier than thinking about the important things. Not that he was sure what the important things was...

“You’re thinking too loud.” Tom chastised.

“And you’re not sleeping.” Harry countered as he nuzzled even closer to Tom.

“You already said that.” Tom sighed, and ran his fingers over Harry’s back. Harry made a noise against Tom’s body. Tom’s fingers made him relax until he felt as if he were a pile of goo. They were on the bed, not in it, but Tom was warm, and Harry was tired, and it felt good.

“‘Night…” Harry mumbled, although it was still midmorning. He felt as if he could sleep for another week.

“Sweet dreams, _child_.” Tom answered. Harry felt as if he should say something to that, something about real dreams or false memories, but he wasn’t sure why so he decided that it would be better to let it be. If he remembered the reason later, he could probably say something about it when he woke up. For now, he was close to asleep.

It didn’t take long before he actually was asleep, nuzzled against Tom’s body with Tom’s arms around him. It felt warm, and safe, and for now Harry could forget that he was actually mad at Tom. There would be plenty of time to be mad when he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it's a good thing this doesn't have fanart yet, because I wouldn't want my Harry to be whitewashed.
> 
> The mental breakdown is based on experience.
> 
> Any guesses as to who sent a letter with Hedwig?
> 
> Next time; New interlude. Why? Because the plot advances outside of Tom's apartment as well. Shocker, right?


	7. The mysterious eggs (Easter Special)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter. This takes place after the last chapter, and is a part of the plot, although not extremely plot-relevant.

Harry was exhausted to his bones when he woke up, and nuzzled closer to the warm mass next to him in hope to fall asleep anew. It took his sleep befuddled mind a moment to recognize the warm mass as a body, and yet another moment to remember what had happened before he fell asleep. He shot up from the bed quick as lightning, and Tom looked back at him with bemusement.

“I had a breakdown.” Harry stated, his voice clipped. “And my magic _attacked_.”

“You did. I don’t see any obvious changes though.” Tom said, and got up from the bed. He stepped close to Harry, and gripped Harry’s chin. Tom turned his head in different directions. “I retract my statement. Your cheekbones and neck are covered in white, but transparent scales. They glitter in the light.”

“Fantastic.” Harry sighed. “Let's have breakfast. I can’t deal with this right now, and I feel like I haven’t eaten in a week.” He glared pointedly at Tom, who only smiled in response.

“Breakfast then, though I think it’s actually time for lunch now.” Tom agreed, and moved his hand from Harry’s chin, to Harry’s wrist. He dragged the younger man with him to the kitchen and sat him down in a chair.

Harry watched as Tom prepared them both a light lunch. He was absentmindedly playing with the ring on his finger. He would have to ask Tom about it later, but right now he wanted to think about literally anything else than the mess that was his life.

“What are those eggs that you keep in the cooled cupboard?” he asked after a while. They had been a mystery to him for far too long.

“Basilisk eggs.” Tom answered distractedly, as making food took up much of his concentration.

“...but they’re not chicken eggs, and I haven’t seen any toad around here.” Harry commented, his tone laced with confusion.

“Did you or did you not get an O in Care of Magical Creatures?” Tom asked. “A basilisk can lay eggs. Those are eggs laid by a basilisk, hence I said basilisk eggs.”

“We didn’t go into detail when it came to basilisks.” Harry defended himself. “I assume you don’t get a basilisk from a basilisk egg. How come you keep them in the cooled cabinet? Where did you even get them?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I think you’re right. I keep them in the cooled cabinet because Nagini is least likely to get in there and eat them. I found them in the Chamber of Secrets.”

“Yet you had them out for breakfast once, which I really want to know why. Also- did you say the Chamber of Secrets?” Harry asked, incredulous.

“I don’t know how to hatch them, so I take them out sometimes.” Tom answered, and put down two plates on the table. Harry looked down to see two slices of toast with baked beans and a fried egg. He raised an eyebrow at Tom in silent question.

“It’s a chicken egg, _child_.” Tom said with badly hidden amusement. “The Chamber of Secrets, yes. I found it in my fifth year. It was in the girls bathroom on the second floor actually, definitely not a place I would have thought to look at.” he answered, as he sat down.

“How come you did?” Harry asked, and gave his egg yolk a poke with his fork. It was highly unlikely that Tom would feed him a basilisk egg, but you could never be too careful.

“I had looked pretty much everywhere else.” Tom answered with a shrug. “It was worth a shot.”

“Okay. Back to the basilisk eggs. Why didn’t you leave them in the chamber?”

“With a basilisk that has exceeded her natural life-span with at least a hundred years, to be forgotten about?”

“I concede your point.” Harry answered, and took a bite of his toast. “We should try to hatch one. See what kind of breed it is. Speak with it, maybe it’s aware of what happens outside its egg?”

Tom looked consideringly at Harry for a long moment, that they both spent quietly eating.  
“You are Echidna…” he began carefully. “If anyone can hatch one of the eggs, it would be you.”

Harry tilted his head to the right as he considered it. If he did, it would be an act of procrastination, but it definitely interested him… he had no idea how to even begin to try though.  
“I don’t know how I would do it, but it’s worth a try. After we’ve eaten.”

“I’m sure we’ll think of something. I don’t think you’ll have to actually incubate the egg at least.” Tom grinned.

Harry flicked a piece of egg at him with the help of the fork, before going back to eating.

* * *

He stared at the basilisk egg that Tom had handed to him. It was as big as an ostrich egg if he were to guess, and he had to hold it carefully in both hands. His magic danced over it, as if it were waiting for him to do something. Harry took a deep breath, and following his instincts he sent a wave of magic at the egg. As the magic sunk down in the shell, the egg heated up in his hands. Harry gave a small gasp as the egg burnt him, before cooling down. Tom sent him a worried glance, but Harry was too focused on the egg to notice.

It was Tom that gasped when the first crack in the shell came. They held their breath in expectation as they watched the crack get bigger, until there was a hole in the shell. At first, nothing happened, but then a snake head stuck its head out and looked at them curiously before turning its eyes towards Harry with a hiss of recognition.

“ _Mother!_ ” the snake gasped. “ _I’m honored that You decided to hatch me, Mother.”_

_“Eh… you’re welcome?”_  Harry answered. He felt very awkward right now, and more so when the snake left the egg in favor of curling itself around his arm. “ _May I ask what and who you are?”_

_“I’m Eglė, the Queen of Serpents. Born from a basilisk, I’m a Shahmaran.”_

_“Shahmaran is a Turkish myth.”_ Tom chimed in. _“Shahmaran was said to be the Queen of Serpents. She was an intelligent woman, with the lower body of a snake. A bite from her head gave you knowledge, but a bite of her scales killed you. Egl_ _ė_ _is from a Lithuanian myth, and was also the Queen of Serpents. She was a young girl that found a serpent in her clothes, after she had bathed with her sisters. To get the snake to leave, she had to pledge herself to him. Three days later, a thousand serpents came for her. Egl_ _ė’s family tricked the snakes three times, before the enraged snakes finally gets her. They take Eglė to their master at the bottom of the sea, Žilvinas - human and the Serpent Prince. They get married, have children, and then Eglė decides to visit home. She needs to complete three impossible tasks before she’s allowed to leave. Eglė succeeds after getting advice from a sorceress, and takes her children with her to visit her family. Her family forces the children to reveal how to summon Žilvinas, and then they kill him. When Eglė finds out, she turns her children and herself into trees.”_

_“...is there any snake related myth that you don’t know?”_ Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. Tom only shrugged in response. Eglė made a delighted sound in response to hearing the myths.

_“The myth is partly true. The scales from my head will give you knowledge, and the scales from my tail will kill you. As will my venom. I don’t have the killing gaze of a basilisk, but I have all the knowledge of the world.”_ Eglė said, and flicked her tongue at Tom. _“You smell as Mother. Are you Mother’s mate?”_

_“Not yet.”_ Tom answered, at the same time as Harry said _“No!”_

Eglė gave a hissing laughter reminding them both of Nagini. Harry looked towards Tom.

_“Will Nagini hurt Eglė?”_ he asked worryingly.

_“She will not.”_ Tom promised. Harry gave a sigh of relief.

_“Mother, will you hatch my siblings?”_ Eglė asked curiously.

_“Not any time soon, Eglė. Is that okay?”_

_“Your will is law, Mother. My siblings are in no hurry.”_

_“I’ll not forget about them.”_ Harry promised. He looked towards Tom again. “So what do we do now?”

“You should rest, and your owl definitely want you to acknowledge her. I assume you want to talk to me afterwards.” Tom answered. Harry nodded.

“I never did finish taking that shower… and I feel better now. Take care of Eglė for me while I shower?”

“I will.” Tom said. Eglė must have understood them, for she crawled from Harry’s arm to Tom’s. Harry gave Tom one last hesitating glance before going into the bathroom. Tom - and Eglė - went to find Nagini.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's not the promised Interlude, and I haven't updated in a while. I haven't had the energy. I'm writing the Interlude, but it's going slow. I'm trying for sometime next week.
> 
> About the myths, I googled Queen of Serpents, and they came up. I took them from Wikipedia, and paraphrased them some.  
> Tom would know all the snake myths, don't you agree?
> 
> Check out the art for the fic if you haven't. Also, feel free to talk to me over at tomarry-riddle.tumblr.com


	8. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens outside of Tom's apartment?

**INTERLUDE**

Except for the first letter, they had heard nothing from Harry. Remus, ever the voice of reason, had reminded them that Harry had written that he unlikely would be able to send more letters, and that it had only been a few days. It made them feel better until Severus pointed out that Riddle had more or less encouraged that they kept in contact through Lucius, as long as they didn’t try to meet with Harry. Needless to say, the mood went down again after that.

As they all had taken leave from their jobs - except for Severus, as he was unable to without finding a substitute teacher - most of their time was spent trying to come up with various rescue plans and going through all locator spells and potions they could come up with. One of them should be able to find Harry, even if he was behind wards. At least, that’s what they hoped. They had yet to have any success.

Currently, they were discussing the pros and cons of going to Dumbledore.

“He’s Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock, so he definitely have contacts in high places, and he did defeat Grindelwald.”

“Grindelwald was a Dark Lord, not a murderer.” Remus reminded Sirius for the umpteenth time.

“A Dark Lord that murdered.” Sirius countered with a look of triumph, until he remembered why they were discussing this.

“I hardly think Dumbledore can challenge Riddle to a duel.” James cut in, since they had diverted from the real discussion. Lily sat quietly next to him. She rarely said anything since Harry had been kidnapped, likely blaming herself for it. James held her hand gently, as quiet support.

“This is not getting anywhere.” Remus sighed. They had been talking in circles for hours by now. “Perhaps Severus can give us a new perspective when he comes over…”

“When is Snivellus getting here anyway?” Sirius asked, and cast _tempus_. His face fell when he realized that it was just 2 in the afternoon. Severus wouldn’t come before 5 pm as earliest.

“Perhaps we should take a break.” Remus suggested, after he saw what time it was.

“We _can’t_.” Lily interrupted, speaking for the first time in hours. Her voice was broken.

“Lils, Remus is right. A break would do us good.” James said softly. “Perhaps some food will help us think.”

Lily sighed, as if in defeat.  
“Some food then.” she agreed quietly.

James called for Tipsy and told her to bring them a light lunch. He had thought about moving to the dining room, but one look at Lily quickly made him discard that idea. If he didn’t know his wife better, he would have been inclined to say that she had given up. Harry had not even been gone a week yet, and Lily seemed like a shadow of her former self. He was sure that she would get her strength back as soon as she stopped blaming herself, or they heard from Harry, whatever would come first.

He barely noticed when Tipsy served them food, lost in thoughts as he had been. They murmured thanks and started eating.

The meal was silent, making it impossible for them to miss when the fire in the fireplace suddenly sparked to life. They all recognized the green that could only mean that someone was flooing through. Barely had the realization hit them before Severus Snape stepped out, with a bunch of papers in hand.

“I came as soon as I could.” Severus started, after he wandlessly and non-verbally cleaned his robes from ashes. “Riddle sent me the potion notes I had asked Harry about, together with a note.”

Lily rose up.  
“What does the note say?” she asked breathlessly. James placed a comforting hand on her arm.

“I’ll tell you, but please sit down first, Lily.” Severus said, as he sunk down in an armchair. Lily obeyed and looked at him expectantly. Severus sorted through his papers until he found the note in question.

“ _Severus,  
_ _I sincerely hope that you understand that I can’t send you any information about what the potion is for. I remember you with certain fondness as you were my Head of House and a brilliant potion master, which is why I’m allowing Harry to trust you with this. I do suggest that you don’t do anything to lose my trust._

_Since I’m sure you’re worried about your godson, it’s my pleasure to inform you that he is well. I would much appreciate to hear back from you with a decisive amount of lacewing flies._ ” he read.

“I would feel a lot better if we heard from Harry.” James said with a sigh, breaking the silence that had followed.

“We all would.” Remus answered. “For now, we can only trust that Riddle is telling the truth.”

“Sev.” Lily said quietly. “You know Riddle the best. Is he telling the truth?”

“He can be charming and manipulative, but he is not an outright liar.” Severus said carefully. “The question is how he defines being well.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Sirius said, and slumped back into his seat. Before anyone could say anything more, an owl flew into the room and dropped a letter on Lily’s lap. The owl was gone again before anyone was quite sure what had happened.

“Is it from Harry?” Remus asked. Lily took the letter with shaking hands and opened it.

“No.” she whispered. “It’s from Riddle.”

James carefully took the letter from her so that he could read it in her stead.  
“ _Mr and Mrs Potter,_ _  
_ _I took the liberty to perform a lineage ritual on your son. Are you aware that both Mr Potter and Harry are of creature blood, thanks to the late Euphemia? I assume not, as Harry’s creature inheritance was bound._

_You have a powerful son. His magic has been fighting the bind for a while._

_Mr Potter, if you know anything about your mother’s side of the family, Harry would be delighted by the information. As for who bound your creature inheritance, I’d suggest a certain Headmaster._

_Do not worry, Harry is safe and well. He’s adjusting to his inheritance._ ”

Silence settled once more after James finished reading the letter. James reread it twice to himself while the others were staring at him. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“This was news to me.” he admitted.

“You don’t know what sort of creature blood it is then?” Severus asked.

“I have no idea.” James mumbled, before looking over at Sirius and Remus. “Hey, Remus. Can you smell anything? Do you know anything? You did meet my mum.”

“Sorry, James. I can’t smell a bound creature. If we get another letter from Harry, I might be able to smell that… or you can go through with the lineage ritual.”

“I don’t know any lineage rituals though.” James answered.

“You could visit Gringotts.” Sirius suggested. The others gave him odd looks. “Why are you guys looking at me like that? Everyone knows that goblins are the ones to turn to when you need something done.”

“Must be a pureblood thing.” James said after a while, which directed the odd looks towards him. “I actually knew about the goblins, I just didn’t connect it to Gringotts at first.” he defended himself.

“Had you decided on anything before I arrived?” Severus asked, and efficiently changed the subject back to the pros and cons of going to Dumbledore.

* * *

They had just entered Grimmauld Place to have a conversation with the portrait of the late Walburga Black when they overheard a conversation from the kitchen. Curious, they decided to investigate.

“Have Harry sent anymore letters?” Tonks asked, from where she was making a cup of tea. They blinked, their curiosity spiked once more. Why would Harry need to send letters?

“No.” Sirius sighed. “Riddle, on the other hand…”

Oh, this didn’t sound particularly good. They only knew of one Riddle, and if they spoke of letters that hadn’t come from Harry but from Riddle… they couldn’t be serious, could they?

“I wish.” Tonks groaned. They must have missed that Sirius said something more. “Not even Mad-Eye has any idea, and you’d expect him to know at least something with all those wards on his house.”

They considered making their presence known, because what the actual fuck was going on?

“Riddle seems way too fascinated with Harry, so it’s doubtful he’ll let Harry go.” Sirius grumbled.

“How’s Lily taking it?” Tonks asked, changing the subject somewhat.

“She’s blaming herself, thinks she could have stopped Riddle from kidnapping Harry if she had reacted faster.” Sirius answered, his voice tired.

They slapped a hand over their mouth, and pressed their nails into the palm of the other to not make a sound. Harry was kidnapped and no one had told them?! What the hell! They took a deep breath. Talking to Walburga had to wait, they needed to know about this. With a decisive nod to themself, they apparated to see Severus.

* * *

A bowl of lemon drops was within easy reach on his desk. There was an inkwell on his other side, with a quill waiting to be used. In front of him where an empty parchment. Albus sighed as he went through possible wordings. Writing to Aberforth was never an easy task. Of course, he could have gone down the Hog’s Head but it was very likely that his brother would throw him out. Exchanging letters was where their shaky relationship was still stuck after all these years.

Suddenly remembering a funny anecdote to start the letter with, Albus put his quill to the parchment. He had just gotten to the best part when something suddenly exploded in his office. He calmly put down the quill and turned to the silver instrument in question. It was whirring too quick for him to see the movements and smoke was coming from it. He froze it with a spell before it would either fall apart or catch on fire. When it stopped, he recognized it immediately.

“Oh, Tom, what have you done…” Albus sighed. It was the instrument that told him if young Potter ever got into his creature inheritance, an extra assurance since he had bound the inheritance himself. He doubted that the boy was strong enough to break his bound alone, which led him to believe that Tom Riddle was involved. Albus could only hope that young Potter could take care of himself.

As he turned back to his letter, there was a knock on the door to his office. Albus glanced on one of his other colourful instruments before looking towards the door.

“Come in, Severus.” he said, loud enough for his voice to carry through the door. Severus entered, in company of James, Lily, Remus and Sirius. His instrument had of course told him, but it was still odd to see.

“What can I help you with? Lemon drops?” he offered, and gestured towards the bowl. They all politely refused his offer of sour candy.

“It’s about Harry, Albus.” Severus started. “Riddle kidnapped him a week ago.”

“Over a week ago.” Lily corrected in a whisper.

“That’s a long time.” Albus said carefully. “Do you have any evidence that Harry is still alive?”

“Only a letter where Riddle promises that Harry is well.” James said, and handed Albus the letter in question. “He also mentions you as responsible for a bound creature inheritance…”

Albus nodded solemnly. He should have expected Tom to try to put him in a bad light.  
“I am.” he confessed. “But it was for the Greater Good™.”

“Greater Good? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!” Remus asked, with tightly controlled fury. “Creatures are not meant to be forcibly bound! It’s even worse when you don’t let him come into the inheritance at all! His magic could be damaged, trying to undo the bound, or you could have bound too much! What creature is he that made you think you had the privilege to do that without consent?!”

“The Echidna.” Albus answered, his tone calm. Remus quieted down at once.

“The mother of monsters…” Severus breathed.

“Did you bind me as well?” James asked, as he tried to puzzle the pieces together.

“I had to, my dear boy.” Albus answered. “I can undo it for you now. There can ever only be one Echidna at the same time, and if Harry’s inheritance is unbound, you’re in no danger.”

James nodded weakly, unsure what there was to answer. Albus lifted up his wand, and with a long chant he unbound James’ inheritance. Except for a rain of white sparks, nothing happened.

“There’s a chance that you’ll feel more in touch with your magic now.” Albus offered when he noticed their confused faces.

“What about Harry?” Sirius asked. “We need to save him.”

“Ah.” Albus agreed with a nod. “That, we do.”

* * *

**_Undesirable no. 1 - unexpected saviour?  
_ ** _by Rita Skeeter_

_Yes, you read correctly my dear readers! A source that wish to stay anonymous came to me with this juicy information, and I found it my duty as an reporter to share it with you._

_On the 21st of September, Harry James Potter was involved in a kidnapping at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. Riddle dutifully left his infamous mark over the well known pet shop. Why have you not heard about this before, you might ask. Well, my faithful readers, it’s because the Ministry kept it secret! Riddle broke his pattern by kidnapping Mr Potter, and the Aurors were at a loss as to why. I’m delighted to be able to share the truth with you._

_The kidnapping was staged! Riddle had before the kidnapping visited the pet shop and gotten acquainted with Mr Potter. It was during one of these meetings that Mr Potter revealed himself to be a parselmouth, a trait unheard of in England outside of the Slytherin line and creature lines. This revelation was unexpected for both parts. My source says that Mr Potter reaction to the news where “_ Impossible. There’s no parselmouths in the Potter line, and my mother is muggleborn. _"_ _\- two well known facts._

_Of course, this information still left other possibilities. Riddle deduced that there could be creature blood in the Potter line, and offered to perform a lineage ritual. Mr Potter agreed, and it became clear that there is indeed creature blood in the Potter line, from the late Euphemia Potter._

_It’s extremely rare that a creature status is unknown, which led to the suggestion that someone had bound Mr Potter’s inheritance. Can you imagine, dear reader, that someone dared bind Mr Potter’s natural magic without consent? It’s revolting!_

_Riddle and Mr Potter planned the kidnapping together, as to give them an opportunity to break the bind on Mr Potter and let him safely come into his inheritance._

_My source finished with informing me that no other than our highly esteemed Albus Dumbledore is the main suspect for binding poor Mr Potter’s natural magic. I promise, I’m as shocked as you are, my dear readers! I have decided to take it upon myself to learn more about Headmaster Dumbledore’s past in hopes of either confirming or denying this accusation._

_Until then, I advice you to think twice about Headmaster Dumbledore’s role in our society. Has the power finally gone to his head?_

* * *

In the topmost cell of Nurmengard, laughter could be heard echoing between the walls. A once feared man sat with his back against the door, an English newspaper clutched in his hands.

“Oh, Albus… what a mess you’ve created for yourself.” was said in between bouts of laughter. “I wonder how you’ll clean up after yourself _this_ time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And hopefully we're now back on track with weekly updates. I sincerely apologize for taking basically forever with the interlude, and I've beaten myself up over it. I really like trying to keep to a schedule, and life is the only excuse I can give.
> 
> The mysterious person spying on Sirius and Tonks is the same person that sent Harry a letter with Hedwig. I'll be using they/them pronouns for them after their name is revealed as well. There can never be enough trans characters.
> 
> I hope you found Rita's article as sickeningly sweet as I did. I pray I never feel the need to write an article by her again.


	9. Heavy conversations and sexual flirtations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets some of his questions answered.

It felt nice to have taken a real shower. Tom had probably casted cleaning charms on him during the week, but there were a clear difference between what magic could do and what a real shower could do. Harry felt refreshed, a feeling that was never quite there when magic was used. The only downside of the shower was that he couldn’t wash his hair as he was used to. It felt different to shampoo dreads instead of his afro, and it had taken forever to squeeze the dreads dry. He wondered if a drying charm would help. He would have to look up if there were any specialized for his kind of hair. One could never know with cosmetic charms.

He had forgotten to bring a change of clothes with him into the bathroom. Again. Unlike last time, he decided to make do with the clothes that he had been wearing. Harry focused his magic on his dirty pajama pants and underwear to first clean the items and then to transfigure them into new clothing. Since a pair of pajama pants couldn’t be transfigured into two pieces of clothing, he went with a jumpsuit. He didn’t dare trying to conjure anything complicated until he had gotten used to his new magic. Just conjuring a hair scrunchie proved to be a hard task - it took a few tries before he conjured up one in the right size and that stayed one colour. Harry pulled his dreads back and secured them in a ponytail with the hair scrunchie. Dressed and as ready as he could possibly be, he left the bathroom.

The living room and therefore the kitchen were both empty except for him, but the hissing from Tom’s bedroom clued him in to where Tom, Egl ė and probably Nagini were located. Determined to avoid the conversation that he needed to have with Tom for as long as possible, Harry looked around. He had a vague memory of Tom mentioning an owl for him… Just as he had thought that, he spotted Hedwig sitting on the back of a kitchen chair.

“Hedwig!” Harry called, feeling happier and more relaxed at the sight of his familiar and friend. The brilliant snowy owl gave a wary hoot as answer, and flapped her wings once but didn’t leave the chair. Harry frowned at her. There were no reason for her to be wary of him all of a sudden. Unless… what had Tom called him? An Echidna, but what more… Harry bit his lip as he recalled Tom’s words. _ The mother of all monsters… _ That could certainly explain why Hedwig was wary of coming any closer, even if she recognized him.

“It’s me, Hedwig. I haven’t changed. You know that I would never hurt you.” Harry cooed softly, and hoped it would be enough to coax Hedwig to him. He would have bribed her with owl treats, but he didn’t have any and there was a risk that she would get scared if he got any closer to search for some food. Maybe he could conjure her a mouse? It would best if he could get the letter from her first though…

“I’ll give you a big juicy mouse if you let me have the letter.” he tried, not above bribing his own owl. He was rather happy that Tom couldn’t see him right now, because the situation definitely felt ridiculous. At least the promise of prey worked, because Hedwig flew forward him and landed on his shoulder. She nipped after his fingers affectionately when he took the letter that had been tied to her leg.

“Thank you, darling.” Harry cooed. He focused his magic and conjured up a mouse. It didn’t come out right, it looked to be part guinea pig or something, but Hedwig apparently didn’t care since she took off after it. If he could do this kind of magic wandlessly, he didn’t want to know what he could do  _ with _ a wand. How bad had the bound on his creature inheritance been if it affected his magic this much? Maybe Tom had an idea if he asked… Harry made a mental note to do that later, and sat down on his bed so that he could read the letter. He didn’t have any hopes that it would be from his parents, since he doubted that they would think of using Hedwig if they knew he was behind wards.

It was with slightly trembling hands that he opened the letter, his magic licking his fingertips. For a moment, he feared that the letter would catch on fire. He wasn’t aware that he had held his breath until he let out a relieved sigh. Harry looked down on the letter.

_ Dear snake in lion-skin,  
_ _ I can’t begin to tell you how upset I am that no one told me that you were missing. I happened to overhear Padfoot talking to Nymphadora about it, and then the bat confirmed it for me. _

_ Have the riddle taken proper care of you? I sincerely hope so, or I will personally see to destroying him. No one harms my snake, especially not the riddle. Yes, I’m fully aware that you can take of yourself. Let me try to protect you anyway, snake. _

_ Do inform me if you’re in need of anything. As long as you use Hedwig, I’ll make sure that you get what you need. _

_ Also, a warning. Padfoot mentioned Dumbledore. I fear that he’ll be involved. _

_ Do keep me updated. _

_ Sincerely,  
_ _ your lion in snake-skin _

Harry smiled at the use of codenames. Regulus definitely knew how to write a letter that if intercepted would be confusing, not that there was any risk when Hedwig was used. He debated answering the letter now, but after careful deliberation he decided against it. If he answered after he had talked to Tom, he would be able to inform Regulus more properly of the situation. It was likely that he would feel the need to talk about it with someone else too, and then Regulus were one of his best options. With this decided, Harry put the letter away underneath his pillow and rose from the bed. With a calming breath, he entered the bedroom.

“Hey.” he said to make himself known, at once feeling awkward. Tom looked up from where he was sat on the bed together with Nagini and Eglė. Nagini was curled protectively around the smaller snake.

“Did you enjoy your shower?” Tom asked pleasantly. Harry gave a nod, not sure if he would manage to say something if he tried. Tom patted the place next to him to the bed. Harry obediently walked over and sat down.

“ _ Mother. _ ” Eglė greeted him. She freed herself from Nagini to slither over to him and curl herself around his right arm. Harry smiled down at her and scratched her scales carefully. Eglė gave a pleased hiss.

“ _ I’m very happy with my grand-hatchling. _ ” Nagini commented. “ _ I hope you two will give me more soon. _ ”

“ _ Nagini, it’s not like that. _ ” Harry protested, quite obviously flustered.

“ _ It’s not? And here I thought that we would make great parents,  _ darling.” Tom said with a mock hurt expression.

“ _ Please, just,  _ don’t.  _ We need to talk. _ ” Harry answered with a groan, and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes in a sign of defeated irritation. Eglė’s grip around his arm tightened at the sudden movement.

“My apologies. What do you want to start with?” Tom asked.

“I think you’ve explained most about why you did it and what Echidna is already…” Harry thought out loud. He did only vaguely remember the explanations and he wasn’t sure if he actually understood them, but he would prefer to avoid those subjects for now.

“What about the ring?” he finally asked, and held up his left hand to show Tom what he was talking about. “You didn’t even bother creating a memory for it.”

“Have you tried to take it off?” Tom asked, with a look of curiosity in his eyes. Harry frowned slightly but shook his head as an answer anyway.

“I wouldn’t succeed if I did try, would I?” he asked.

“I’m the only one able to take it off.” Tom said. “I’m surprised that you didn’t try to take it off.”

Harry’s only response was to shrug. He didn’t know why he hadn’t tried to take it off either.  
“So. Why the left ring finger?”

“Which answer would you prefer to hear?” Tom inquired. “I have multiple.”

“All of them.”

Tom began to count off the answers on his fingers.   
“To show everyone that you’re mine, because it’s easier to overlook a ring when it’s on a finger with significant meaning, because it would be in your way if it was on your right hand, because I simply like how it looks on you, and because it will make you think of me with a meaning that the other fingers don’t have.”

“You’re one disturbed human being.” Harry deadpanned, and made a scene of trying to remove the ring even if he had been told that he would be unable to. Tom looked on with a sense of amusement.

“Thank you.” he answered with heavy sarcasm. “If you’re done, there’s a real reason behind the ring.”

Harry stopped trying to pull the ring off, and looked questioningly at Tom. Eglė was hissing at him since he moved her around with his gestures, but Harry calmed her by scratching her scales.

“Do you know about Death’s Hallows?” Tom questioned. Harry tilted his head to the side as he thought about it.

“The Hallows are three items that were given to three brothers by Death. The brothers in question are said to be the Peverell brothers. I’m related to the youngest of the brothers, Ignotus Peverell. He’s buried in Godric’s Hollow. There’s an invisibility cloak that have been passed down from father to son in my family for generations, it’s said to have belonged to Ignotus.”

Tom nodded.   
“It’s one of Death’s Hallows. If you’ve seen the symbol for the Deathly Hallows, the cloak is symbolized by the triangle.”

“A triangle split by a line, and with a circle inside of it?” Harry asked. “I saw the mark on Ignotus’ gravestone once.”

“What were you doing in Godric’s Hollow?” Tom wondered.

“We have a cottage there.” Harry said, and waved his hand as a sign for Tom to go on with the storytelling.

“Okay. You know that you’re related to Ignotus. I come from the Gaunts, a line that is best known for being descendants of Salazar Slytherin. A lesser known fact is that they were also descendants of Cadmus Peverell. I stole the ring from my uncle. Not only does the stone have an inscription of the Deathly Hallows symbol, it’s also the symbol for Peverell’s family crest. I can only assume that’s the reason no one found the symbol particular, especially knowing the tale of the three brothers.”

“Are you telling me that I have the Resurrection Stone on my finger?” Harry asked, incredulous.

“Yes.” Tom confirmed easily. “I gave it to you. Congratulations,  _ dear _ , you’re the owner of two of the Deathly Hallows. One more, and you’ll be the Master of Death.”

“This all seem ridiculously easy.” Harry said faintly. “Why would I want to become the Master of Death? Why do  _ you _ want me to become the Master of Death?!” His voice had rose an octave by the time he was done.

“Because of the power.” Tom answered simply. Harry felt as if something heavier was implied.

“Don’t you want the power for yourself?” he cried instead of asking about suspected implications.

“I already have power.” Tom said.

“But don’t you want more?!”

“Having you by my side will give me more.”

“What if I don’t want to be by your side?”

“Oh,  _ darling _ , do you really think that you have a choice?”

Harry slapped him with the backside of his left hand. Tom’s head flew to the side because of the impact. The Resurrection Stone wasn’t sharp enough to cut him, but the slap was hard enough for a blood vessel in his mouth to burst. Tom spat out the blood in his palm, and looked up towards Harry. There were some spots of blood at the corner of his mouth.

They stared at each other. Harry looked unsympathetic and like he couldn’t believe that he had just done that, while Tom looked fascinated.

* * *

 

Nagini looked between Harry and Tom. Her head was flattened and she had puffed up, a sign that she had been startled by their actions and was trying to look intimidating as told by instinct. Eglė had moved from Harry’s arm to around his shoulders, and was now hissing threateningly at Tom.

“ _ Mother doesn’t belong to you! You’re not his mate, and Mother is your superior, puny human! _ ”

“ _ You understand them? _ ” Nagini asked. She had realized that she was in no danger and calmed down, but Eglė was still hissing threats and insults at Tom.

“ _ I can understand all languages. _ ” Eglė answered proudly.

“ _ Does that include owl? _ ” Nagini asked curiously.

“ _ I have never tried. _ ” Eglė admitted, and scrunched her nose in a way only a snake could.

“ _ You should. I’d like to talk with Hedwig. _ ”

“ _ Hedwig? _ ”

“ _ Mother’s owl. _ ” Nagini explained. Eglė looked excited, and uncurled herself from Harry’s arm.

“ _ I can try to talk to Hedwig. _ ” she said excitedly. Nagini waited for Eglė to curl around her, and slithered down from the bed. They left the bedroom to find the owl and left their humans to work things out on their own.

* * *

“I’m not sorry.” Harry broke the silence. “You deserved it.”

“It’s really a good thing that I like you.” Tom mused. “Do you want to slap me again or are you done?”

“I will fucking punch you.” Harry promised, before he let out a sigh. “We’re not done talking though. Maybe later.”

“What more do you want to talk about?” Tom questioned, with a raised eyebrow. Harry shrugged. He wasn’t actually sure.

“What happened while I was asleep? Except for the letters.”

“I would say nothing much, but I assume you want to know what happened in the wizarding world, not in the apartment.” Tom said. Harry answered the underlying question with a gesture that was part-shrug and part-nod.

“I spent most of the week in the apartment. I did off a Ministry worker, and I would offer you details of who and how if I thought you would be interested.” Tom paused to grin at Harry, a small sign that he was teasing. “I had Lucius contact Rita Skeeter for an article in the Daily Prophet. I wanted her to get the story before Dumbledore could get his hands involved. He should be under close inspection now.”

“Did she write the truth?”

“The truth that she knew. Of course, Lucius had to feed her some white lies about the kidnapping.”

“Are any of your white lies going to come back and bite me in the ass?” Harry asked. Tom smiled charmingly.

“Only if you let them. Though if you want to be bitten in the ass…” he trailed off. Harry snorted.

“I will punch you, Riddle.”

Tom grimaced slightly.  
“Gaunt. If you have to call me by a lastname, I prefer Gaunt. I prefer it when you call me Tom even more, though Marvolo would also be quite nice…”

“I will punch you,  _ Gaunt _ .” Harry corrected. Annoyed with Tom or not, he wouldn’t use a name if Tom disliked it.

“Much better,  _ darling _ .” Tom praised. “And you know that I’ll stop if you tell me to do so. You haven’t, so I can only assume that you don’t mind as much as you pretend that you do.”

“You really do care about my consent, don’t you?” Harry asked with a tone full of amazement. “You could have given me false memories of us kissing, or worse, but you didn’t. You made up a reason for why I was sleeping in your bed, and that was it. I’m still cross with you for that by the way, but thinking about what you could have done, I’m not that mad. You can forget that I’ll share your bed again though.”

“You already have,  _ my dear _ .” Tom pointed out. “Of course I care about your consent. I’m a murderer, not a rapist.”

“It was after an emotional breakdown and should not be counted!” Harry protested. “I know you’re not, but that’s not the only reason, is it?”

Tom was quiet for a moment, and then gave a quiet sigh.   
“My mother tricked my father into a marriage with a love potion. She tricked herself into believing that he really loved her, and stopped giving him the potion. He left her. I detested him for it, but I can understand it. She took away his will. That’s why I find your consent so important. I don’t want to become my mother or my father.”

“I- that’s-” Harry started, but he couldn’t find anything to say. “Detested? As in you don’t anymore?” he asked instead.

“Oh, I murdered him. He was my first.” Tom answered flippantly, as if they were talking about the weather. Harry wasn’t sure what he had expected, but that had probably been it. He wasn’t surprised. He would probably been more surprised if Tom liked his father, especially since it was just a moment ago that he corrected Harry on which lastname to use. Harry could only assume that Tom’s mother’s maiden name was Gaunt. Tom had said that he came from the Gaunts, but Harry hadn’t been sure if it was a close relation or not. Now he apparently had an answer.

“Was there anything else?” Tom asked with a raised eyebrow when Harry didn’t say anything.

“No. Did you have an answer from Seve- Professor Snape?”

“He’s your godfather, and you graduated years ago. You can say Severus. He’s not even here to hear it.” Tom commented, while he summoned the letter nonverbally and wandlessly.

“He’s also told me to call him Severus.” Harry admitted. “It’s just force of habit.”

“It’s a bad habit, unlearn it.” Tom said and handed Harry the letter.

“Why?” Harry asked breathily, and smiled like the cat who got the cream. “Are you jealous? Do you want me to call you  _ professor Gaunt _ ?”

“Sorry to let you down,  _ darling _ , but I’m not into roleplay.”

Harry rose from the bed with a small laugh.   
“If you say so,  _ professor _ .” he said, and left the bedroom. He made sure to swing his hips on his way out. He heard Tom groan before the bedroom door closed. It was surprisingly fun to tease back.

* * *

The scene Harry was met with in the living room was one he had never expected to see. Hedwig was sat on the bed with Eglė in front of her and Nagini curled so that she was surrounding them, with her head resting on her body.

“ _ What is she saying? _ ” Nagini asked.

“ _ That Mother is behind us. _ ” Eglė answered and turned around. Nagini only lifted her head and tilted it to the side.

“ _ You’re a hootmouth? _ ” Harry asked, and laughed at his own joke. He wasn’t really sure why he had started thinking about what an owl speaker would be called during his breakdown that morning, but the opportunity was too good for him to let it be. Too bad he was the only one present that could appreciate it.

“ _ Hootmouth? _ ” Eglė questioned.

“ _ You can understand Hedwig? _ ” Harry rephrased his question.

“ _ Oh! Yes, Mother, I can. As I told you, I have all the knowledge of the world. _ ”

“ _ That includes speaking all languages? _ ” Harry asked, amazed.

“ _ Understand, not speak. Your owl is highly intelligent though. We’re almost having a conversation. _ ”

“ _ That’s amazing. I’ll leave you three to it. _ ” Harry said and walked over to the kitchen area. He had a letter to read and a potion to work on.

* * *

Harry sat at the kitchen table, his potion notes spread out in front of him. He had expanded the table to be able to fit all of them, since with the addition of prof- Severus’ notes he wouldn’t be able to work otherwise. He should check how the potion lab looked since he hadn’t yet, but for now he was content with working in the kitchen.

Tom sat on his bed together with the snakes and Hedwig, probably partaking in their conversation. Harry didn’t pay him much mind with the exception for a glance now and then when the conversation got louder.

“You look adorable in the jumpsuit and with your dreads in a ponytail.” Tom said. Harry looked up at the out of the blue comment.

“You’re going to jinx the scrunchie.” he mumbled distractedly and went back to reading through prof- Severus’ notes while comparing them to his own and writing new notes.

“Jinx it?”

“It’s conjured.” Harry answered, and wrote down the number for lacewing flies that Severus had given. It was apparently fifteen or twenty one depending on how much dittany essence he was planning on using. It was just a circle of amounts depending on the amounts of other ingredients.

“Your magic is out of the control, isn’t it?” Tom asked as if he just remembered. It was likely, since a lot had happened since that morning. Harry still doubted that Tom had forgotten.

“What makes you say that?” he asked sarcastically as he made a correction to how to prepare the chizpurfle carapaces. Crushing it to powder in a mortar would work better than using it whole.

“For one, you’re glowing, if you haven’t noticed. Secondly, every time you accidentally push down a paper it flies back onto the table.”

Harry paused and looked up. After confirming that his skin was indeed glowing with a green sheen, he pushed down one of his papers. It flew back up before it reached the floor. Harry nodded to himself and went back to working. If he powderized the chizpurfle carapaces, then he should use three drops of antimony, and if he used three drops of antimony, he would need seven drops of dittany essence, which in turn made the amount of lacewing flies needed fifteen.

“Should I use the silverweed before the octopus powder or after?” Harry asked.

“It depends on if the pomegranate juice is the only ingredient before that, and how long after the pomegranate juice in that case.”

“I think I’ll add the lacewing flies twenty minutes after the pomegranate juice, let it boil for five minutes, let it rest for forty five, then add the silverweed, stir it twenty times counter-clockwise with every third stir clockwise making it a total of twenty seven stirs and then let it simmer for a hour and a half before I add the octopus powder.”

“Let it rest for twenty minutes after the pomegranate juice, then boil for ten before you add the lacewing flies. After that, let it rest for fifty minutes, then stir five times counter-clockwise, three times clockwise, add the silverweed, stir twenty times counter-clockwise, and let it then simmer for a hour and a half before you add the octopus powder.” Tom suggested. Harry nodded and made the correction in his notes.

“It will have to rest for a day after that. I need to figure out when to add Nagini’s blood too. I know it has to be towards the end, but I’m not sure if I should use it as the last ingredient or it should wait until after the potion is bottled.”

“Severus didn’t make any suggestions?” Tom inquired. Harry put down his quill and started to shuffle through his notes.

“If he did, I can’t remember it, but he sent me a lot of notes… Wait, here might be something.” Harry trailed off as he started reading through the notes. Since the potion was specifically for Nagini, the best result would either be to use it as a base in lieu of water or add it after the potion was bottled. It would take too much blood to use it in lieu of water, not to mention that he had made all the calculations with a water-base in mind. With that issue cleared up he decided to consider the use of haliwinkles instead.

It didn’t take much before he was engrossed in potion invention again.

* * *

A touch to his shoulder made Harry jump, and resulted in the inkwell exploding. Harry looked at his precious potion notes with rising panic while Tom vanished the ink for him. Harry sighed in relief when his notes turned out to be undamaged.

“If you had actually been listening, that wouldn’t have happened.” Tom said with a hint of amusement. Harry gave him a halfhearted glare.

“What did you want?” he asked, and vanished the broken inkwell that Tom had left.

“I made dinner. You’ve been immersed in your work for hours.”

“Oh. Sorry! Let me just put this away, and I’ll set the table.” Harry said and rose up. He didn’t trust his magic with the notes yet, so he started to gather them for hand. It took him by surprise when Tom started to help him.

“I know it’s my fault that you feel that you’re behind with your research, but you really shouldn’t overwork yourself. Nagini is not in any danger yet, and Severus has offered his assistance, not to mention that I’m also helping you. Working nonstop for hours might sound good in theory but it’s not good in practice.” Tom said, his tone careful as if he were afraid to offend.

“I don’t have much else to do.” Harry pointed out. “Not to mention, it takes my mind of your bullshit.”

“You could do me.” Tom joked. Harry rolled his eyes but didn’t comment.

“In your dreams, Gaunt.”

“You’re surprisingly fond of using my name all of a sudden,  _ darling _ .”

Harry hummed.   
“Give me those papers so that I can put them away.”

A moment later the kitchen table was clean from potion notes, and back to its normal size. Tom went to check on the food as well as feed their familiars while Harry started to get out plates, glasses and silverware. It didn’t take long before the table was set and the food was served.

“I think you’ve cooked more than me since I got here.” Harry said when they were halfway through dinner. Tom had cooked sausage with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables for them. It was actually pretty good.

“I can stop.” Tom offered. His smile gave away that he was only teasing.

“I don’t mind. You’re pretty good in the kitchen.” Harry answered, with a smile of his own.

“Oh, if you like me in the kitchen  _ darling _ , then you’d love me in the bedroom.”

Harry almost choked on his food. He coughed a few times and took a sip of water.  
“Too much, Tom. That was too much.”

“Sorry.” Tom said, not at all sounding apologetic. “I’m not Gaunt anymore?”

“You made me food.” Harry half explained, half defended himself. His answer was accompanied by a slight shrug.

“If only food was all it took.” Tom mused. Harry rolled his eyes and went back to eating.

* * *

After dinner was finished and cleaned up after, they moved to Tom’s bedroom. Nagini, Egl ė and Hedwig had returned to Harry’s bed after they had eaten their dinner, and they didn’t want to disturb their familiars. Besides, Harry never got to read  _ Breakfast on Pluto _ . While Tom settled behind his desk, Harry found the book and sat down in the armchair with it.

They spent a couple of hours in relaxed silence before Harry yawned. It was actually rather impressive that he’d been able to be awake for this long after a week of forced sleep. His hair scrunchie had disappeared and his dreads framed his face again, but he had barely noticed while he was immersed in reading. Now on the other hand, he tiredly moved the dreads away from his face so that he could try to focus on the steadily more blurry page.

By the time he had reread the same sentence five times without understanding it, Harry bookmarked the page by folding a corner and closed it. He transfigured his jumpsuit back to the pair of pajama pants as he stood up.

“I’m too tired, I’m going to sleep in your bed.” he mumbled, and slipped down under the covers.

“Good night,  _ my dear _ .” Tom answered in the background. Harry hummed. It didn’t take long before he was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm changing the update schedule to once every two weeks. I love this story, but it's taking time from my other projects.
> 
> Shout-out to EstablishedInsanity for correctly guessing that the mystery person was Regulus!
> 
> Please tell me if you found any plotholes or uneven characterizations x  
> I'm a horrible writer that post things without reading through them.
> 
> ...mostly because my writing makes me feel sick when I try, and then where would I be? I would have nothing to post at all.


	10. Strange family (Mother's Day Special)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not even Mother's Day in Sweden, but with Harry being the mother of all monsters and it being Mother's Day in so many other countries today... I really wanted to do a little special.
> 
> It's once again plot-relevant, so don't skip it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The writing style may feel different in this when in comparison to the other chapters, and for that I apologize. I can't pinpoint the problem.

As Harry started to come to his senses, one thing stood out in his mind; it was warm, and he sought more of it. Acting purely on instinct, Harry cuddled closer to the source of the warmth. Comfortably enveloped in the warmness, he shivered in delight. Had he been part cat instead of part snake, he would likely have purred. Instead, soft hisses sounded from the back of his throat. If he had been more awake, then he would probably been bemused by the way he acted now that he had started to embrace his creature inheritance, but as it was, Harry felt too tired and comfortable to pay it any mind.

The feeling of fingers playing with his dreads and the sound of a low, content chuckle burst his bubble and Harry groggily opened his eyes. He was met by the sight of pale skin, which he moment later connected to Tom’s naked chest. With a small gasp, Harry pulled away from Tom’s embrace and sat up in the bed. The fingers slid from his dreads and over his back before withdrawing. He had not thought it through when he decided to sleep in Tom’s bed yesterday.

“Did I wake you?” Tom asked, his innocent tone not matching the look in his eyes.

“ _I didn’t expect to share the bed with you!_ ” Harry answered, flustered. He did not take notice of which language he was speaking.

“ _You did so yesterday morning without any problem._ ”

“ _I had just had a breakdown! We were wearing clothes!_ ”

“ _You look dressed to me._ ” Tom said and pointedly scrutinized him. Harry felt a blush rise.

“ _That’s besides the point! I did not agree to this! What happened to you caring about my consent? Was that all lies?_ ”

“ _I manipulate, I do not lie._ ”

“ _Then why did you decide that it was okay to sleep in the same bed as me when I told you yesterday that I’m not going to share a bed with you again?!_ ” Harry was close to yelling at this point, but Tom didn’t move away from him. If anything, he could swear that Tom was moving closer.

“ _I do like it when you get fiery,_ darling _, but calm down. Your magic is too raw._ ” Tom touched Harry’s arm, and Harry flinched away from his touch with a hiss. As he did, the oil lamp on Tom’s desk exploded. Harry’s eyes widened as he realized that his magic was making the air almost electric. He could almost see the green light from his eyes, as they glowed strongly by this point.

“I- sorry. I’ll fix the lamp.” Harry answered. He did not notice that he had switched to English, but he hadn’t been aware that they were speaking parseltongue in the first place.

“Don’t worry about the lamp, focus on calming down.” Tom advised. “Breathe with me before you accidentally hurt anyone. In, out… In, out…”

Harry’s eyes widened once more at the idea of accidentally hurting anyone. He hadn’t noticed before now that Nagini and Eglė were curled up by their feet. There had been so much else to think about that the heavy weight had been pushed to the back of his mind. He tried to follow Tom’s tact, but he was closer to hyperventilating than he was to calming down.

“ _Mother?_ ” Eglė asked cautiously as she moved towards him. She touched Harry’s hand softly with her head before crawling up his arm, continuing up over his shoulders and finally curling around his neck to give him the snake equivalent of a hug.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m okay.” Harry mumbled, although his breathing was still too fast paced. Tom was still softly counting in the background, but Harry barely heard him.

“ _You’re not okay, Mother. You should try to breathe in tact with father._ ”

Harry almost choked on the air. After his cough attack calmed down, breathing came slightly easier. It felt as if the coughs had helped clear his airways. He noted absently that Tom had stopped counting.

“Father?” he repeated disbelievingly. “Why would you call _him_ that?”

“ _Nagini told me that you two are her hatchlings, and that she’s my grandmother. Does that not make him my father, if you’re Mother?_ ” Eglė asked. Harry didn’t believe the innocence in her voice for a second.

“ _I’m not your mother specifically._ ” he protested. The thought of having a family consisting of him, Tom and snakes… it was rather odd. He didn’t want any family with Tom at the moment.

“ _You are. You hatched me._ ”

“ _Your mother is a basilisk._ ”

“ _A mother is the one that takes care of me, and that is you, not the basilisk that laid my egg._ ” Eglė stated. Harry didn’t have it in him to keep protesting.

“ _Even if I’m your mother, it does not make Tom your father._ ”

“ _Do I not take care of you?_ ” Tom interjected. Harry turned to glare at him.

“ _You do not take care of anyone. You kidnapped me, had me in bewitched sleep for a week, and ignored my right to consent._ ”

“ _I take care of Nagini, and I am doing my best in taking care of you._ ”

“ _Exactly how are you taking care of me?_ ” Harry hissed with a voice full of venom. The air cracked, reminding them that his magic had yet to sink back into his skin.

“ _I can make you breakfast in bed._ ” Tom offered. “ _I don’t believe you should be going anywhere right now._ ”

“ _Then do so. I do not wish to see you right now._ ” Harry answered. His magic responded by pushing Tom out of the bed and towards the door. It reminded him strongly of what had happened before his breakdown yesterday. Was one day of normalcy too much to ask for?

“That was uncalled for.” Tom said as he got up from the floor, echoing the situation from yesterday. Harry glared at him until he had left the bedroom, at which point Harry fell back against the pillows. Eglė hissed at him because of the harsh landing.

“ _Apologies. I forgot about you._ ” Harry mumbled and scratched Eglė’s head to placate her. Nagini moved over to them and put her head on Harry’s stomach.

“ _I can bite Tom for you if you wish._ ” she offered. Harry smiled weakly at her.

“ _I’ll hex him myself if I feel the need to hurt him, but thank you._ ” He sighed softly as his magic started to return to him since Tom - and therefore the supposed threat - was no longer in the room.

“ _Family shouldn’t fight._ ” Nagini hissed. Harry could only guess what she was possibly thinking.

“ _Well… this is a rather strange family is one would chose to call it that._ ”

“ _Of course it’s strange, but it can still be good._ ” Eglė commented. Harry blinked at her. He couldn’t decide if the words were wise or if Eglė only thought so since she was barely a day old.

“ _However that may be, I’m not interested to have any sort of family with Tom any time soon. I’m more inclined to tear my way through his wards and apparate home._ ”

“ _Isn’t this your home?_ ” Eglė asked. Harry had forgotten that she wasn’t aware of the situation.

“ _It is._ ” Nagini interjected before Harry could answer. “ _Hatchling’s other home is a cage._ ”

“ _Yet I’m more free in the cage than I feel here._ ” Harry sighed. Nagini lifted her head from his stomach to look him in the eyes.

“ _That is not what you said before._ ”

“ _That was before Tom turned into this._ ” Harry countered.

“ _Tom is a good person, he just doesn’t do well with emotions._ ” Nagini said and rested her head on his stomach once more. Harry sighed again.

“ _Neither do I, it seems._ ”

Eglė nuzzled her head against his cheek and hugged his neck. They didn’t talk any more as they waited for Tom to come back with breakfast. Harry was thinking back to their fight earlier. Tom never did apologize for his mistake in the end, did he? In fact, Harry had been the one to apologize… for the lamp, but still. Which reminded him…

Harry sat up in the bed slightly so that he could focus on fixing the oil lamp. He soon forgot what he had been thinking about as he tried to get his wild magic to cooperate. By the time Tom came back with breakfast, he was not quite sure why he had ever been upset in the first place. He had probably just overreacted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me if any tags should be added, you find any plot-holes, or my characterizations have done an U-turn.
> 
> Don't date Tom. Currently, their relationship is far from functional... but I'm not sure what you expected with this pairing.
> 
> Writing this kind of reminded me of my last relationship, which is why I mean it when I say that you shouldn't date Tom.  
> Don't date anyone that behaves like Tom did in this. Dump them.
> 
> Also... I'm gonna work on the pace of this thing. One day per chapter is too slow... it has worked, but it might not as I figure out the plot more. I'll prove my point with the timeline for the fic in my next update.


	11. Hiatus Announcement

Hello!

Summer is upon us, and while I'd love to take this time to focus solely on TPSWATM, I can't. Instead, I'm putting this fic on hiatus.

My plan is to finish up some of my smaller projects to some degree, work on the plot on this, and plan out the rewrite of _Harrietta Potter: The Boy-Who-Lived*_. As my family has hours set aside for spending by the computer, I don't have more time to do this during the summer than I do during the school year.

Also, I'm opening up writing commissions as I find myself in need of money. Send me a message on Tumblr or FanfFiction.net for details if you're interested.

I hope you all will be patient with me x

(This is a golden opportunity for you to send me suggestions for the plot x)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *you can find this fic on fanfiction.net under ClarisseSelwyn

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Artwork: Pet shop worker and murderer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6259825) by [Clarisse (transnymphtaire)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/transnymphtaire/pseuds/Clarisse)




End file.
